Android Programming - RK Raji

ANDROID
Table of Content
Android Tutorial 2

Audience 2
Prerequisites 2

Copyright & Disclaimer Notice 2

Overview 7

Features of Android 7

Android Applications 8
Environment Setup 9

Step 1 - Setup Java Development Kit (JDK) 9

Step 2 - Setup Android SDK 10

Step 3 - Setup Eclipse IDE 11

Step 4 - Setup Android Development Tools (ADT)

Plugin 12

Step 5 - Create Android Virtual Device 14
Architecture 16

Linux kernel 16

Libraries 17

Android Runtime 17

Application Framework 17

Applications 17
Application Components 18

Activities 18

Services 18

Broadcast Receivers 19

Content Providers 19

Additional Components 19
Hello World Example 20

Create Android Application 20
Anatomy of Android Application 22

The Main Activity File 24

The Manifest File 24

The Strings File 25

The R File 26

The Layout File 26

Running the Application 27
Resources Organizing & 29

Accessing 29

Alternative Resources 30

Accessing Resources 31

ACCESSING RESOURCES IN CODE 31

EXAMPLE: 31

EXAMPLE: 31

EXAMPLE: 32

ACCESSING RESOURCES IN XML 32
Activities 33

Example 34
Services 37

Example 40
Broadcast Recievers 45

Creating the Broadcast Receiver 45

Registering Broadcast Receiver 45

Broadcasting Custom Intents 46

Example 47
Content Providers 52

Content URIs 52

Create Content Provider 53

Example 53
Fragments 63

Fragment Life Cycle 64

How to use Fragments? 65

Example 66
Intents and Filters 72

Intent Objects 72

ACTION 73

Android Intent Standard Actions: 73

DATA 76
CATEGORY 76

EXTRAS 78

FLAGS 80

COMPONENT NAME 80

Types of Intents 80

EXPLICIT INTENTS 80

IMPLICIT INTENTS 81

Example 81

Intent Filters 84

Example 85
UI Layouts 92

Android Layout Types 93

Example 93

RelativeLayout Attributes 96

Example 98

GridView Attributes 111

Example 112

Sub-Activity Example 116

Layout Attributes 122

View Identification 124
UI Controls 125

Android UI Controls 125

TextView 126

TextView Attributes 126
Example 128

Exercise: 131

EditText 131

EditText Attributes 131

Example 132

Exercise: 136

AutoCompleteTextView 136

AutoCompleteTextView Attributes 136

Example 137

Exercise: 140

Button 140

Button Attributes 140

Example 141

Exercise: 145

ImageButton 145

ImageButton Attributes 145

Example 146

Exercise: 149

CheckBox 149

CheckBox Attributes 149

Example 150

Exercise: 155

ToggleButton 155

ToggleButton Attributes 155

Example 156

Exercise: 160

RadioButton 160

RadioButton Attributes 160

Example 161

Exercise: 165

RadioGroup 165

RadioGroup Attributes 165

Example 165

Exercise: 170

Create UI Controls 170
Event Handling 172

Event Listeners & Event Handlers 172

Event Listeners Registration: 173

Event Handling Examples 173
EVENT LISTENERS REGISTRATION USING AN

ANONYMOUS INNER CLASS 173

REGISTRATION USING THE ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTS

LISTENER INTERFACE 176

REGISTRATION USING LAYOUT FILE

ACTIVITY_MAIN.XML 178

Exercise: 180
Styles and Themes 181

Defining Styles 182

Using Styles 182

Style Inheritance 186

Android Themes 187

Default Styles & Themes 191
Custom Components 192

Creating a Simple Custom Component 192

INSTANTIATE USING CODE INSIDE ACTIVITY
CLASS 193

INSTANTIATE USING LAYOUT XML FILE 196

Custom Component with Custom Attributes 201

STEP 1 202

STEP 2 202

STEP 3 203

Example 208

Big View Notification 214

CHAPTER1

Overview

What is Android?

ndroid is an open source and Linux-based Operating System for mobile

devices such as smartphones

and tablet computers. Android was developed by the Open Handset Alliance, led by
Google, and other companies.

Android offers a unified approach to application development for mobile devices which
means developers need only develop for Android, and their applications should be able
to run on different devices powered by Android.

The first beta version of the Android Software Development Kit (SDK) was released by
Google in 2007 where as the first commercial version, Android 1.0, was released in
September 2008.

On June 27, 2012, at the Google I/O conference, Google announced the next Android
version, 4.1 Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean is an incremental update, with the primary aim of
improving the user interface, both in terms of functionality and performance.

The source code for Android is available under free and open source software licenses.
Google publishes most of the code under the Apache License version 2.0 and the rest,
Linux kernel changes, under the GNU General Public License version 2.
Features of Android

Android is a powerful operating system competing with Apple 4GS and supports great
features. Few of them are listed below:
Feature
Description
Android OS basic screen provides a beautiful and intuitive

Beautiful UI user interface.
GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth,

Connectivity Wi-Fi, LTE, NFC and WiMAX.
Storage
SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data

storage purposes.
Media
support
H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB, AAC, HEAAC, AAC 5.1, MP3, MIDI, Ogg
Vorbis, WAV, JPEG, PNG, GIF, and BMP
Messaging
SMS and MMS
Web
Based on the open-source WebKit layout engine, coupled

with Chromes V8 JavaScript
browser
engine supporting HTML5 and CSS3.
Android has native support for multi-touch which was

initially made available in handsets
Multi-touch
such as the HTC Hero.
simultaneously.
Widgets are resizable, so users can expand them to show

more content or shrink them to
Resizable
widgets
tasking
User can jump from one task to another and same time
various application can run
Multi-
save space
Multi Language
Supports single direction and bi-directional text.
GCM
Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) is a service that lets

developers send short message data
to their users on Android devices, without needing a

proprietary sync solution.
Wi-Fi
Direct
Android
Beam
A technology that lets apps discover and pair directly, over a

high-bandwidth peer-to-peer
connection.
A popular NFC-based technology that lets users instantly

share, just by touching two NFC-
enabled phones together.
Android Applications

Android applications are usually developed in the Java language using the Android
Software Development Kit.

Once developed, Android applications can be packaged easily and sold out either
through a store such as Google Play or the Amazon Appstore.

Android powers hundreds of millions of mobile devices in more than 190 countries
around the world. Its the largest installed base of any mobile platform and growing fast.
Every day more than 1 million new Android devices are activated worldwide.

This tutorial has been written with an aim to teach you how to develop and package
Android application. We will start from environment setup for Android application
programming and then drill down to look into various aspects of Android applications.
CHAPTER2

Environment Setup

ou will be glad to know that you can start your Android application development
on either of the following

operating systems:

Microsoft Windows XP or later version.

Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later version with Intel chip.

Linux including GNU C Library 2.7 or later.

Second point is that all the required tools to develop Android applications are freely
available and can be downloaded from the Web. Following is the list of softwares you
will need before you start your Android application programming.

Java JDK5 or JDK6

Android SDK

Eclipse IDE for Java Developers (optional)

Android Development Tools (ADT) Eclipse Plugin (optional)

Here last two components are optional and if you are working on Windows machine then
these components make your life easy while doing Java based application development.
So let us have a look how to proceed to set required environment.
Step 1 - Setup Java Development Kit (JDK)

You can download the latest version of Java JDK from Oracles Java site: Java SE
Downloads. You will find instructions for installing JDK in downloaded files, follow the
given instructions to install and configure the setup. Finally set PATH and JAVA_HOME
environment variables to refer to the directory that contains java and javac, typically
java_install_dir/bin and java_install_dir respectively.

If you are running Windows and installed the JDK in C:\jdk1.6.0_15, you would have to
put the following line in your C:\autoexec.bat file.

set
PATH=C:\jdk1.6.0_15\bin;%PATH%
set JAVA_HOME=C:\jdk1.6.0_15

Alternatively, you could also right-click on My Computer, select Properties, then
Advanced, thenEnvironment Variables. Then, you would update the PATH value and press
the OK button.

On Linux, if the SDK is installed in /usr/local/jdk1.6.0_15 and you use the C shell, you
would put the following code into your .cshrc file.

setenv PATH
/usr/local/jdk1.6.0_15/bin:$PATH setenv
JAVA_HOME /usr/local/jdk1.6.0_15

Alternatively, if you use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Eclipse, then it
will know automatically where you have installed your Java.
Step 2 - Setup Android SDK

You can download the latest version of Android SDK from Android official website :
Android SDK Downloads. If you are installing SDK on Windows machine, then you will
find a installer_rXX-windows.exe, so just download and run this exe which will launch
Android SDK Tool Setup wizard to guide you throughout of the installation, so just follow
the instructions carefully. Finally you will haveAndroid SDK Tools installed on your
machine.

If you are installing SDK either on Mac OS or Linux, check the instructions provided
along with the downloaded android-sdk_rXX-macosx.zip file for Mac OS and androidsdk_rXX-linux.tgz file for Linux. This tutorial will consider that you are going to setup
your environment on Windows machine having Windows 7 operating system.

So lets launch Android SDK Manager using the option All Programs > Android SDK
Tools > SDK Manager, this will give you following window:

Once you launched SDK manager, its time to install other required packages. By default
it will list down total 7 packages to be installed, but I will suggest to de-select
Documentation for Android SDK andSamples for

SDK packages to reduce installation time. Next click Install 7 Packages button to
proceed, which will display following dialogue box:

If you agree to install all the packages, select Accept All radio button and proceed by
clicking Installbutton. Now let SDK manager do its work and you go, pick up a cup of
coffee and wait until all the packages are installed. It may take some time depending on
your internet connection. Once all the packages are installed, you can close SDK manager
using top-right cross button.
Step 3 - Setup Eclipse IDE

All the examples in this tutorial have been written using Eclipse IDE. So I would suggest
you should have latest version of Eclipse installed on your machine.

To install Eclipse IDE, download the latest Eclipse binaries from
http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/. Once you downloaded the installation, unpack the
binary distribution into a convenient location. For example in C:\eclipse on windows, or
/usr/local/eclipse on Linux and finally set PATH variable appropriately.

Eclipse can be started by executing the following commands on windows machine, or you
can simply double click on eclipse.exe

%C:\eclipse\eclipse.exe

Eclipse can be started by executing the following commands on Linux machine:

$/usr/local/eclipse/eclipse

After a successful startup, if everything is fine then it should display following result:
Step 4 - Setup Android Development Tools

(ADT) Plugin

This step will help you in setting Android Development Tool plugin for Eclipse. Lets start
with launching Eclipse and then, choose Help > Software Updates > Install New
Software. This will display the following dialogue box.

Now use Add button to add ADT Plugin as name and https://dlssl.google.com/android/eclipse/ as the location. Then click OK to add this location, as
soon as you will click OK button to add this location, Eclipse starts searching for the plugin available the given location and finally lists down the found plugins.

Now select all the listed plug-ins using Select All button and click Next button which will
guide you ahead to install Android Development Tools and other required plugins.
Step 5 - Create Android Virtual Device

To test your Android applications you will need a virtual Android device. So before we
start writing our code, let us create an Android virtual device. Launch Android AVD
Manager using Eclipse menu optionsWindow > AVD Manager> which will launch
Android AVD Manager. Use New button to create a new Android Virtual Device and enter
the following information, before clicking Create AVD button.

If your AVD is created successfully it means your environment is ready for Android
application development. If you like, you can close this window using top-right cross
button. Better you re-start your machine and once you are done with this last step, you are
ready to proceed for your first Android example but before that we will see few more
important concepts related to Android Application Development.
CHAPTER3

Architecture

ndroid operating system is a stack of software components which is roughly

divided into five sections and

four main layers as shown below in the architecture diagram.
Linux kernel

At the bottom of the layers is Linux - Linux 2.6 with approximately 115 patches. This
provides basic system functionality like process management, memory management,
device management like camera, keypad, display etc. Also, the kernel handles all the
things that Linux is really good at such as networking and a vast array of device drivers,
which take the pain out of interfacing to peripheral hardware.
Libraries

On top of Linux kernel there is a set of libraries including open-source Web browser
engine WebKit, well known library libc, SQLite database which is a useful repository for
storage and sharing of application data, libraries to play and record audio and video, SSL
libraries responsible for Internet security etc.
Android Runtime

This is the third section of the architecture and available on the second layer from the
bottom. This section provides a key component called Dalvik Virtual Machine which is a
kind of Java Virtual Machine specially designed and optimized for Android.

The Dalvik VM makes use of Linux core features like memory management and multithreading, which is intrinsic in the Java language. The Dalvik VM enables every Android
application to run in its own process, with its own instance of the Dalvik virtual machine.

The Android runtime also provides a set of core libraries which enable Android
application developers to write Android applications using standard Java programming
language.
Application Framework

The Application Framework layer provides many higher-level services to applications in
the form of Java classes. Application developers are allowed to make use of these services
in their applications.
Applications

You will find all the Android application at the top layer. You will write your application
to be installed on this layer only. Examples of such applications are Contacts Books,
Browser, Games etc.
CHAPTER4

Application Components

pplication components are the essential building blocks of an Android application.

These components

are loosely coupled by the application manifest file AndroidManifest.xml that
describes each component of the application and how they interact.

There are following four main components that can be used within an Android
application:
Description
Components
Activities
They they dictate the UI and handle the user interaction to

the smartphone screen
Services
They handle background processing associated with an

application.
Broadcast
Receivers
They handle communication between Android OS and

applications.
They handle data and database management issues.
Content
Providers

Activities

An activity represents a single screen with a user interface. For example, an email
application might have one activity that shows a list of new emails, another activity
to compose an email, and another activity for reading emails. If an application has
more than one activity, then one of them should be marked as the activity that is
presented when the application is launched.

An activity is implemented as a subclass of Activity class as follows:

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
Services

A service is a component that runs in the background to perform long-running
operations. For example, a service might play music in the background while the
user is in a different application, or it might fetch data over the network without
blocking user interaction with an activity.
A service is implemented as a subclass of Service class as follows:

public class MyService extends Service {
Broadcast Receivers

Broadcast Receivers simply respond to broadcast messages from other applications
or from the system. For example, applications can also initiate broadcasts to let other
applications know that some data has been downloaded to the device and is available
for them to use, so this is broadcast receiver who will intercept this communication
and will initiate appropriate action.

A broadcast receiver is implemented as a subclass of BroadcastReceiver class and
each message is broadcasted as an Intent object.

public class MyReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver {
Content Providers

A content provider component supplies data from one application to others on
request. Such requests are handled by the methods of the ContentResolver class. The
data may be stored in the file system, the database or somewhere else entirely.

A content provider is implemented as a subclass of ContentProvider class and must
implement a standard set of APIs that enable other applications to perform
transactions.

public class MyContentProviderextends ContentProvider {

We will go through these tags in detail while covering application components in
individual chapters.
Additional Components

There are additional components which will be used in the construction of above
mentioned entities, their logic, and wiring between them. These components are:
Description
Components
Fragments
Represents a behavior or a portion of user interface in an

Activity.
Views
UI elements that are drawn onscreen including buttons, lists

forms etc.
Layouts
View hierarchies that control screen format and appearance

of the views.
Messages wiring components together.
Intents
Resources
External elements, such as strings, constants and drawables

pictures.
Configuration file for the application.
Manifest
CHAPTER5

Hello World Example

et us start actual programming with Android Framework. Before you start writing
your first example using

Android SDK, you have to make sure that you have setup your Android development
environment properly as explained in Android - Environment Setup tutorial. I also
assume that you have a little bit working knowledge with Eclipse IDE.

So let us proceed to write a simple Android Application which will print Hello
World!.
Create Android Application

The first step is to create a simple Android Application using Eclipse IDE. Follow the
option File -> New -> Project and finally select Android New Application wizard
from the wizard list. Now name your application as HelloWorld using the wizard
window as follows:

Next, follow the instructions provided and keep all other entries as default till the final
step. Once your project is created successfully, you will have following project screen:
Anatomy of Android Application

Before you run your app, you should be aware of a few directories and files in the Android
project:

S.N. Folder, File & Description
src
This contains the .java source files for your project. By default, it
includes an MainActivity.javasource file
having an activity class that runs when your app is launched using the
app icon.
gen
This contains the .R file, a compiler-generated file that references all

the resources found in your project. You
should not modify this file.
bin
This folder contains the Android package files .apk built by the ADT
during the build process and everything
else needed to run an Android application.

4 res/drawable-hdpi
This is a directory for drawable objects that are designed for highdensity screens.
5 res/layout

This is a directory for files that define your apps user interface.
res/values
This is a directory for other various XML files that contain a collection
6 of resources, such as strings and colors
definitions.
AndroidManifest.xml
This is the manifest file which describes the fundamental characteristics

of the app and defines each of its
components.

Following section will give a brief overview few of the important application files.
The Main Activity File

The main activity code is a Java file MainActivity.java. This is the actual application
file which ultimately gets converted to a Dalvik executable and runs your application.
Following is the default code generated by the application wizard for Hello World!
application:
package com.example.helloworld;

import android.os.Bundle;
import android.app.Activity;
import android.view.Menu;
import
android.view.MenuItem;

import android.support.v4.app.NavUtils;


@Override

public void onCreate(Bundle
savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

@Override

public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) {
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.activity_main, menu);
return true;

Here,
R.layout.activity_main
refers
the
activity_main.xml
to file
located in
the res/layout
folder.
TheonCreate() method is one of many methods that are fi red

when an activity is loaded.
The
Manifest
File
Whatever component
you develop
a part of your
as application,
you
must
all its
declare components in

a manifest file called AndroidManifest.xml which ressides at the root of the application
project directory. This file works as an interface between Android OS and your
application, so if you do not declare your component in this file, then it will not be
considered by the OS. For example, a default manifest file will look like as following
file:

<manifest
xmlns:android=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android
package=com.example.helloworld

android:versionCode=1

android:versionName=1.0
> <uses-sdk

android:minSdkVersion=8
android:targetSdkVersion=15
/>

<application
android:icon=@drawable/ic_launcher
android:label=@string/app_name
android:theme=@style/AppTheme
> <activity

android:name=.MainActivity
android:label=@string/title_activity_main >
<intent-filter>

<action android:name=android.intent.action.MAIN />
<category
android:name=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER/>

</intent-filter>
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Here <application></application> tags enclosed the components related to the
application. Attributeandroid:icon will point to the application icon available under
res/drawable-hdpi. The application uses the image named ic_launcher.png located in the
drawable folders

The <activity> tag is used to specify an activity and android:name attribute specifies the
fully qualified class name of the Activity subclass and the android:label attributes
specifies a string to use as the label for the activity. You can specify multiple activities
using <activity> tags.

The action for the intent filter is named android.intent.action.MAIN to indicate that this
activity serves as the entry point for the application. The category for the intent-filter is
namedandroid.intent.category.LAUNCHER to indicate that the application can be
launched from the devices launcher icon.

The @string refers to the strings.xml file explained below. Hence, @string/app_name
refers to theapp_name string defined in the strings.xml fi le, which is HelloWorld.
Similar way, other strings get populated in the application.

Following is the list of tags which you will use in your manifest file to specify different
Android application components:

<activity>elements for activities

<service> elements for services

<receiver> elements for broadcast receivers

<provider> elements for content providers

The Strings File

The strings.xml file is located in the res/values folder and it contains all the text that your
application uses. For example, the names of buttons, labels, default text, and similar types
of strings go into this file. This file is responsible for their textual content. For example, a
default strings file will look like as following file:
<resources>

<string name=app_name>HelloWorld</string>
<string name=hello_world>Hello world!
</string> <string
name=menu_settings>Settings</string>
<string name=title_activity_main>MainActivity</string>

</resources>
The R File

The gen/com.example.helloworld/R.java file is the glue between the activity Java files
likeMainActivity.java and the resources like strings.xml. It is an automatically generated
file and you should not modify the content of the R.java file. Following is a sample of
R.java file:

/* AUTO-GENERATED FILE. DO NOT MODIFY.

* This class was automatically generated by the
* aapt tool from the resource data it found. It
* should not be modified by hand.

*/


public final class R {

public static final class attr {

}
public static final class dimen {

public static final int padding_large=0x7f040002;
public static final int padding_medium=0x7f040001;
public static final int padding_small=0x7f040000;

public static final class drawable {

public static final int ic_action_search=0x7f020000;
public static final int ic_launcher=0x7f020001;
}

public static final class id {

public static final int menu_settings=0x7f080000;

public static final class layout {

public static final int activity_main=0x7f030000;

public static final class menu {

public static final int activity_main=0x7f070000;

public static final class string {

public static final int app_name=0x7f050000;
public static final int hello_world=0x7f050001;
public static final int menu_settings=0x7f050002;

public static final int title_activity_main=0x7f050003;

public static final class style {
public static final int AppTheme=0x7f060000;
The Layout File

The activity_main.xml is a layout file available in res/layout directory, that is referenced
by your application when building its interface. You will modify this file very frequently
to change the layout of your application. For your Hello World! application, this file
will have following content related to default layout:

<RelativeLayout
xmlns:tools=http://schemas.android.com/tools
android:layout_width=match_parent
android:layout_height=match_parent >

<TextView

android:layout_width=wrap_content
android:layout_height=wrap_content
android:layout_centerHorizontal=true
android:layout_centerVertical=true
android:padding=@dimen/padding_medium
android:text=@string/hello_world
tools:context=.MainActivity />

</RelativeLayout>

This is an example of simple RelativeLayout which we will study in a separate chapter.
The TextView is an Android control used to build the GUI and it have various attribuites
like android:layout_width,android:layout_height etc which are being used to set its width
and height etc. The @string refers to the strings.xml file located in the res/values folder.
Hence, @string/hello_world refers to the hello string defined in the strings.xml fi le,
which is Hello World!.
Running the Application

Lets try to run our Hello World! application we just created. I assume you had created
your AVD while doing

environment setup. To run the app from Eclipse, open one of your projects activity files
and click Run icon from the toolbar. Eclipse installs the app on your AVD and starts it
and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it will display following
Emulator window:

Congratulations!!! you have developed your first Android Application and now just keep
following rest of the tutorial step by step to become a great Android Developer. All the
very best.
CHAPTER6

Resources Organizing &

Accessing

here are many more items which you use to build a good Android application.
Apart from coding for the

application, you take care of various other resources like static content that your code
uses, such as bitmaps, colors, layout definitions, user interface strings, animation
instructions, and more. These resources are always maintained separately in various subdirectories under res/ directory of the project.

This tutorial will explain you how you can organize your application resources, specify
alternative resources and access them in your applications.
Organize Resources

You should place each type of resource in a specific subdirectory of your projects res/
directory. For example, heres the file hierarchy for a simple project:

MyProject/
src/
MyActivity.java
res/

drawable/

icon.png

layout/
activity_main.xml
info.xml

values/

strings.xml

The res/ directory contains all the resources in various subdirectories. Here we have an
image resource, two layout resources, and a string resource file. Following table gives a
detail about the resource directories supported inside project res/ directory.
Directory Resource Type

XML files that define property animations. They are
anim/
saved in res/anim/ folder and
accessed from the R.anim class.
color/
XML files that define a state list of colors. They are

saved in res/color/ and accessed
from the R.color class.
Image files like .png, .jpg, .gif or XML files that are
compiled into bitmaps, state lists,
shapes, animation drawables. They are saved in

drawable/ res/drawable/ and accessed from

the R.drawable class.
XML files that define a user interface layout. They are

saved in res/layout/ and
layout/
accessed from the R.layout class.
XML files that define application menus, such as an

Options Menu, Context Menu,
menu/
or Sub Menu. They are saved in res/menu/ and accessed

from theR.menu class.
Arbitrary files to save in their raw form. You need to
raw/
callResources.openRawResource() with the resource ID,

which is R.raw.filename to
open such raw files.
XML files that contain simple values, such as strings,

integers, and colors. For
example, here are some filename conventions for

resources you can create in this
directory:
arrays.xml for resource arrays, and accessed from the

R.array class.
integers.xml for resource integers, and accessed from the

R.integerclass.
values/
bools.xml for resource boolean, and accessed from the

R.bool class.
colors.xml for color values, and accessed from the

R.color class.
dimens.xml for dimension values, and accessed from the

R.dimen class.
strings.xml for string values, and accessed from the

R.string class.
styles.xml for styles, and accessed from the R.style

class.
xml/
Arbitrary XML files that can be read at runtime by

calling Resources.getXML(). You
can save various configuration files here which will be
used at run time.
Alternative Resources

Your application should provide alternative resources to support specific device
configurations. For example, you should include alternative drawable resources (

ie.images ) for different screen resolution and alternative string resources for different
languages. At runtime, Android detects the current device configuration and loads the
appropriate resources for your application.

To specify configuration-specific alternatives for a set of resources, follow the following
steps:

Create a new directory in res/ named in the form <resources_name><config_qualifier>. Hereresources_name will be any of the resources mentioned in
the above table, like layout, drawable etc. The qualifier will specify an individual
configuration for which these resources are to be used. You can check official
documentation for a complete list of qualifiers for different type of resources.

Save the respective alternative resources in this new directory. The resource files
must be named exactly the same as the default resource files as shown in the below
example, but these files will have content specific to the alternative. For example
though image file name will be same but for high resolution screen, its resolution will
be high.

Below is an example which specifies images for a default screen and alternative images
for high resolution screen.

MyProject/
src/
MyActivity.java
res/

drawable/

icon.png

background.png

drawablehdpi/ icon.png
background.png

layout/
activity_main.xml
info.xml

values/

strings.xml

Below is another example which specifies layout for a default language and alternative
layout for arabic language.

MyProject/

src/

MyActivity.java
res/

drawable/
icon.png

background.png
drawable-hdpi/

icon.png

background.png

layout/
activity_main.xml
info.xml

layoutar/
main.xml
values/

strings.xml
Accessing Resources

During your application development you will need to access defined resources either in
your code, or in your layout XML files. Following section explains how to access your
resources in both the scenarios:
ACCESSING RESOURCES IN CODE

When your Android application is compiled, a R class gets generated, which contains
resource IDs for all the resources available in your res/ directory. You can use R class to
access that resource using sub-directory and resource name or directly resource ID.
EXAMPLE:

To access res/drawable/myimage.png and set an ImageView you will use following code:

ImageView imageView = (ImageView)
findViewById(R.id.myimageview);
imageView.setImageResource(R.drawable.myimage);

Here first line of the code make use of R.id.myimageview to get ImageView defined with
idmyimageview in a Layout file. Second line of code makes use of R.drawable.myimage to
get an image with name myimage available in drawable sub-directory under /res.
EXAMPLE:

Consider next example where res/values/strings.xml has following definition:

<?xml version=1.0 encoding=utf-8?
> <resources>

<string name=hello>Hello, World!</string>

</resources>

Now you can set the text on a TextView object with ID msg using a resource ID as
follows:

TextView msgTextView = (TextView)
findViewById(R.id.msg);
msgTextView.setText(R.string.hello);
EXAMPLE:

Consider a layout res/layout/activity_main.xml with the following definition:

<?xml version=1.0 encoding=utf-8?>

<LinearLayout
android:layout_width=fill_parent android:layout_height=fill_parent

android:orientation=vertical >
<TextView android:id=@+id/text

android:text=Hello, I am a TextView />

<Button android:id=@+id/button
android:text=Hello, I am a Button />
</LinearLayout>

This application code will load this layout for an Activity, in the onCreate() method as
follows:

setContentView(R.layout.main_activity);
ACCESSING RESOURCES IN XML

Consider the following resource XML res/values/strings.xml file that includes a color
resource and a string resource:

> <resources>

<color
name=opaque_red>#f00</color>
<string name=hello>Hello!</string>

</resources>

Now you can use these resources in the following layout file to set the text color and text
string as follows:


<EditText
android:layout_width=fill_parent
android:layout_height=fill_parent
android:textColor=@color/opaque_red
android:text=@string/hello />

Now if you will go through previous chapter once again where I have explained Hello
World! example, and Im sure you will have better understanding on all the concepts
explained in this chapter. So I highly recommend to check previous chapter for working
example and check how I have used various resources at very basic level.
CHAPTER7

Activities

n activity represents a single screen with a user interface. For example, an email
application might have

one activity that shows a list of new emails, another activity to compose an email,
and another activity for reading emails. If an application has more than one activity,
then one of them should be marked as the activity that is presented when the
application is launched.

If you have worked with C, C++ or Java programming language then you must have
seen that your program starts from main() function. Very similar way, Android
system initiates its program with in anActivity starting with a call on onCreate()
callback method. There is a sequence of callback methods that start up an activity
and a sequence of callback methods that tear down an activity as shown in the below
Activity lifecycle diagram: (image courtesy : android.com )

The Activity class defines the following callbacks i.e. events. You dont need to
implement all the callbacks methods. However, its important that you understand
each one and implement those that ensure your app behaves the way users expect.
Description
Callback
onCreate()
This is the first callback and called when the activity is first
created.
onStart()
This callback is called when the activity becomes visible to the

user.
This is called when the user starts interacting with the
onResume()
application.
The paused activity does not receive user input and cannot
execute any code and called when
onPause()
the current activity is being paused and the previous activity is

being resumed.
onStop()
This callback is called when the activity is no longer visible.
This callback is called before the activity is destroyed by the

onDestroy() system.

onRestart() This callback is called when the activity restarts after stopping it.

Example

This example will take you through simple steps to show Android application
activity life cycle. Follow the following steps to modify the Android application we
created in Hello World Example chapter:
Step Description
You will use Eclipse IDE to create an Android application and name it as
HelloWorld under a
package com.example.helloworld as explained in the Hello World Example

chapter.
Modify main activity file MainActivity.java as explained below. Keep rest

of the files unchanged.

Run the application to launch Android emulator and verify the result of the
changes done in the aplication.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity
filesrc/com.example.helloworld/MainActivity.java. This file includes each of the
fundamental lifecycle methods. The Log.d() method has been used to generate log
messages:


import
android.app.Activity;
import android.util.Log;

public class MainActivity extends
Activity { String msg = Android : ;

/** Called when the activity is first created. */
@Override

Log.d(msg, The onCreate() event);

/** Called when the activity is about to become visible. */
@Override

protected void
onStart() {
super.onStart();

Log.d(msg, The onStart() event);

/** Called when the activity has become visible. */
@Override

protected void
onResume() {
super.onResume();
Log.d(msg, The onResume() event);

/** Called when another activity is taking focus. */
@Override

protected void onPause()
{ super.onPause();
Log.d(msg, The onPause() event);
}

/** Called when the activity is no longer visible. */
@Override

protected void onStop()
{ super.onStop();
Log.d(msg, The onStop() event);

/** Called just before the activity is destroyed. */
@Override

public void onDestroy()
{ super.onDestroy();

Log.d(msg, The onDestroy() event);

An activity class loads all the UI component using the XML file available in res/layout
folder of the project. Following statement loads UI components from
res/layout/activity_main.xml file:

An application can have one or more activities without any restrictions. Every activity you
define for your application must be declared in your AndroidManifest.xml file and the
main activity for your app must be declared in the manifest with an <intent-filter> that
includes the MAIN action and LAUNCHER category as follows:

<manifest

> <uses-sdk

/>

<application
android:theme=@style/AppTheme >
<activity

<intent-filter>

<category

</intent-filter>
</activity>
</application>

</manifest>

If either the MAIN action or LAUNCHER category are not declared for one of your
activities, then your app icon will not appear in the Home screens list of apps.

Lets try to run our modified Hello World! application we just modified. I assume you
had created yourAVD while

doing environment setup. To run the app from Eclipse, open one of your projects activity
files and click Run icon from the toolbar. Eclipse installs the app on your AVD and
starts it and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it will display Emulator
window and you should see following log messages in LogCat window in Eclipse IDE:

07-19 15:00:43.405: D/Android :(866): The onCreate() event

07-19 15:00:43.405: D/Android :(866): The onStart() event

07-19 15:00:43.415: D/Android :(866): The onResume() event

Let us try to click Red button
events messages
on the Android emulator and it will generate following

in LogCat window in Eclipse IDE:

07-19 15:01:10.995: D/Android :(866): The onPause() event

07-19 15:01:12.705: D/Android :(866): The onStop() event

Let us again try to click Menu button on the Android emulator and it will generate
following events messages in LogCat window in Eclipse IDE:

07-19 15:01:13.995: D/Android :(866): The onStart() event

07-19 15:01:14.705: D/Android :(866): The onResume() event

Next, let us again try to click Back button on the Android emulator and it will generate
following events messages in LogCat window in Eclipse IDE and this completes the
Acitivity Life Cycle for an Android Application.

07-19 15:33:15.687: D/Android :(992): The onPause() event
07-19 15:33:15.525: D/Android :(992): The onStop() event

07-19 15:33:15.525: D/Android :(992): The onDestroy() event
CHAPTER8

Services

service is a component that runs in the background to perform long-running

operations without needing

to interact with the user. For example, a service might play music in the background
while the user is in a different application, or it might fetch data over the network
without blocking user interaction with an activity. A service can essentially take two
states:
Description
A service is started when an application component, such as an

activity, starts it by

Started
calling startService(). Once started, a service can run in the

background indefinitely, even if the
component that started it is destroyed.
State
A service is bound when an application component binds to it by
callingbindService(). A bound
Bound
service offers a client-server interface that allows components to

interact with the service, send

requests, get results, and even do so across processes with

interprocess communication (IPC).

A service has lifecycle callback methods that you can implement to monitor changes
in the services state and you can perform work at the appropriate stage. The
following diagram on the left shows the lifecycle when the service is created with
startService() and the diagram on the right shows the lifecycle when the service is
created with bindService(): (image courtesy : android.com )

To create an service, you create a Java class that extends the Service base class or one
of its existing subclasses. The Service base class defines various callback methods and
the most important are given below. You dont need to implement all the callbacks
methods. However, its important that you understand each one and implement those
that ensure your app behaves the way users expect.
Callback
Description
The system calls this method when another component, such

as an activity, requests that

the service be started, by calling startService(). If you

implement this method, it is your
onStartCommand()
responsibility to stop the service when its work is done, by
calling stopSelf() or stopService() methods.
The system calls this method when another component wants

to bind with the service by

calling bindService(). If you implement this method, you

must provide an interface that
onBind()
clients use to communicate with the service, by returning an

IBinder object. You must

always implement this method, but if you dont want to

allow binding, then you should
return null.
onUnbind()
The system calls this method when all clients have

disconnected from a particular interface
published by the service.
onRebind()
The system calls this method when new clients have

connected to the service, after it had
previously been notified that all had disconnected in

itsonUnbind(Intent).
The system calls this method when the service is first created
onCreate()
usingonStartCommand() or onBind(). This call is required to

perform one-time setup.
The system calls this method when the service is no longer

used and is being destroyed.
onDestroy()
Your service should implement this to clean up any resources

such as threads, registered

listeners, receivers, etc.

The following skeleton service demonstrates each of the lifecycle methods:

package com.tutorialspoint;

import android.app.Service;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.content.Intent;

public class HelloService extends Service {

/** indicates how to behave if the service is killed */ int
mStartMode;

/** interface for clients that bind */
IBinder mBinder;
/** indicates whether onRebind should be used

*/ boolean mAllowRebind;

/** Called when the service is being created. */
@Override
public void onCreate() {

/** The service is starting, due to a call to startService() */
@Override

public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
return mStartMode;
}

/** A client is binding to the service with bindService() */
@Override

public IBinder onBind(Intent intent)
{ return mBinder;
}

/** Called when all clients have unbound with unbindService() */
@Override

public boolean onUnbind(Intent
intent) { return mAllowRebind;
}

/** Called when a client is binding to the service with bindService()*/
@Override
public void onRebind(Intent intent) {

/** Called when The service is no longer used and is being destroyed */
@Override
public void onDestroy() {
Example

This example will take you through simple steps to show how to create your own
Android Service. Follow the following steps to modify the Android application we
created in Hello World Examplechapter:
Step Description
You will use Eclipse IDE to create an Android application and name it
as HelloWorld under a

package com.example.helloworld as explained in the Hello World

Example chapter.
Modify main activity file MainActivity.java to add startService() and

stopService() methods.
Create a new java file MyService.java under the package

com.example.helloworld. This file will have
implementation of Android service related methods.
Define your service in AndroidManifest.xml file using <service/>

tag. An application can have one or
more services without any restrictions.
Modify the detault content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to

include two buttons in linear layout.
Define two constants start_service and stop_service in

res/values/strings.xml file
Run the application to launch Android emulator and verify the result
of the changes done in the aplication.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity
filesrc/com.example.helloworld/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of the
fundamental lifecycle methods. We have added startService() and stopService() methods
to start and stop the service.


import android.view.View;


@Override


@Override

return true;

// Method to start the service

public void startService(View view) {

startService(new Intent(getBaseContext(), MyService.class));

// Method to stop the service

public void stopService(View view) {

stopService(new Intent(getBaseContext(), MyService.class));

Following is the content of src/com.example.helloworld/MyService.java. This file can
have implementation of one or more methods associated with Service based on
requirements. For now we are going to implement only two methods onStartCommand()
and onDestroy():


import android.app.Service;
import android.os.IBinder;
import android.widget.Toast;

public class MyService extends Service
{ @Override

public IBinder onBind(Intent arg0)
{ return null;
}

@Override

public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) { // Let
it continue running until it is stopped. Toast.makeText(this, Service
Started, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show(); return START_STICKY;

@Override

public void onDestroy()
{ super.onDestroy();
Toast.makeText(this, Service Destroyed, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

Following will the modified content of AndroidManifest.xml file. Here we have added
<service/> tag to include our service:

<manifest

> <uses-sdk

/>

<application
<activity

<intent-filter>

<category

</intent-filter>
</activity>

<service
android:name=.MyService />
</application>

</manifest>

Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include two buttons:

<LinearLayout

<Button
android:id=@+id/btnStartService
android:text=@string/start_service
android:onClick=startService/>

<Button
android:id=@+id/btnStopService
android:text=@string/stop_service
android:onClick=stopService />

</LinearLayout>

Following will be the content of res/values/strings.xml to define two new constants:

<resources>

</string> <string

<string name=start_service>Start Service</string>
<string name=stop_service>Stop Service</string>

</resources>


starts it and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it will display following
Emulator window:

Now to start your service, lets click on Start Service button, this will start the service and
as per our programming in onStartCommand() method, a message Service Started will
appear on the bottom of the the simulator as follows:

To stop the service, you can click the Stop Service button.
CHAPTER9

Broadcast Recievers

roadcast Receivers simply respond to broadcast messages from other applications

or from the system

itself. These messages are sometime called events or intents. For example, applications
can also initiate broadcasts to let other applications know that some data has been
downloaded to the device and is available for them to use, so this is broadcast receiver
who will intercept this communication and will initiate appropriate action.

There are following two important steps to make BroadcastReceiver works for the systen
broadcasted intents:

Creating the Broadcast Receiver.

Registering Broadcast Receiver

There is one additional steps in case you are going to implement your custom intents then
you will have to create and broadcast those intents.
Creating the Broadcast Receiver

A broadcast receiver is implemented as a subclass of BroadcastReceiver class and
overriding the onReceive() method where each message is received as a Intent object
parameter.


@Override

public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
Toast.makeText(context, Intent Detected.,

Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}

}

Registering Broadcast Receiver

An application listens for specific broadcast intents by registering a broadcast receiver
inAndroidManifest.xml file. Consider we are going to register MyReceiver for system
generated event ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED which is fired by the system once the
Android system has completed the boot process.
<application

>

<receiver
android:name=MyReceiver>
<intent-filter>

<action
android:name=android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED>
</action>

</intent-filter>
</receiver>

</application>

Now whenever your Android device gets booted, it will be intercepted by
BroadcastReceiver MyReceiverand implemented logic inside onReceive() will be
executed.

There are several system generated events defined as final static fields in the Intent
class. The following table lists a few important system events.
Event Constant
Description
android.intent.action.BATTERY_CHANGED
Sticky broadcast containing the

charging state, level, and other
information about the battery.
android.intent.action.BATTERY_LOW
Indicates low battery condition on the

device.

android.intent.action.BATTERY_OKAY
Indicates the battery is now okay after

being low.

This is broadcast once, after the system

android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED has finished booting.

android.intent.action.BUG_REPORT
Show activity for reporting a bug.
android.intent.action.CALL
Perform a call to someone specified by

the data.

android.intent.action.CALL_BUTTON
android.intent.action.DATE_CHANGED
The user pressed the call button to

go to the dialer or other
appropriate UI for placing a call.
The date has changed.
android.intent.action.REBOOT
Have the device reboot.
Broadcasting Custom Intents

If you want your application itself should generate and send custom intents then you will
have to create and send those intents by using the sendBroadcast() method inside your
activity class. If you use thesendStickyBroadcast(Intent) method, the Intent is sticky,
meaning the Intent you are sending stays around after the broadcast is complete.

public void broadcastIntent(View view)
{

Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT);
sendBroadcast(intent);
}

This intent com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT can also be regsitered in similar way
as we have regsitered system generated intent.

<application
>

<receiver
<intent-filter>

<action
android:name=com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT>
</action>

</intent-filter>
</receiver>

</application>
Example

This example will explain you how to create BroadcastReceiver to intercept custom
intent. Once you are familiar with custom intent, then you can program your application
to intercept system generated intents. So lets follow the following steps to modify the
Android application we created in Hello World Example chapter:
Step Description


Example chapter.
Modify main activity file MainActivity.java to add broadcastIntent()

method.
Create a new java file called MyReceiver.java under the package

com.example.helloworld to define a
BroadcastReceiver.
An application can handle one or more custom and system intents

without any restrictions. Every indent
you want to intercept must be registered in your AndroidManifest.xml

file using <receiver/> tag

include a button to broadcast intent.
Define a constant broadcast_intent in res/values/strings.xml file
Run the application to launch Android emulator and verify the result of
the changes done in the aplication.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity
fundamental lifecycle methods. We have added broadcastIntent() method to broadcast a
custom intent.




@Override


@Override

return true;

// broadcast a custom intent.

public void broadcastIntent(View view)

Intent intent = new Intent();
intent.setAction(com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT);
sendBroadcast(intent);

Following is the content of src/com.example.helloworld/MyReceiver.java:


import android.content.BroadcastReceiver;
import android.content.Context;



@Override

public void onReceive(Context context, Intent intent) {
Toast.makeText(context, Intent Detected.,
}

<service/> tag to include our service:

<manifest

> <uses-sdk

/>

<application
<activity

<intent-filter>

<category

</intent-filter>
</activity>

<receiver
<intent-filter>

<action
android:name=com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT>
</action>

</intent-filter>
</receiver>
</application>

</manifest>

Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include a button to
broadcast our custom intent:

<LinearLayout xmlns:android=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android


<Button
android:text=@string/broadcast_intent
android:onClick=broadcastIntent/>

</LinearLayout>


<resources>

</string> <string

<string name=broadcast_intent>Broadcast Intent</string>

</resources>


Emulator window:

Now to broadcast our custom intent, lets click on Broadcast Intent button, this will
broadcast our custom intent com.tutorialspoint.CUSTOM_INTENT which will be
intercepted by our registered BroadcastReceiver ie. MyReceiver and as per our
implemented logic a toast will appear on the bottom of the the simulator as follows:

You can try implementing other BroadcastReceiver to intercept system generated intents
like system bootup, date changed, low battery etc.
CHAPTER
10

Content Providers

content provider component supplies data from one application to others on

request. Such requests are

handled by the methods of the ContentResolver class. A content provider can use
different ways to store its data and the data can be stored in a database, in files, or even
over a network.

Each Android applications runs in its own process with its own permissions which keeps
an application data hidden from another application. But sometimes it is required to
share data across applications. This is where content providers become very useful.

Content providers let you centralize content in one place and have many different
applications access it as needed. A content provider behaves very much like a database
where you can query it, edit its content, as well as add or delete content usingg insert(),
update(), delete(), and query() methods. In most cases this data is stored in an SQlite
database.

A content provider is implemented as a subclass of ContentProvider class and must
implement a standard set of APIs that enable other applications to perform transactions.

public class MyContentProviderextends ContentProvider {
Content URIs

To query a content provider, you specify the query string in the form of a URI which has
following format:

<prefix>://<authority>/<data_type>/<id>

Here is the detaial of various parts of the URI:
Description
This is always set to content://
Part
prefix
authority
This specifies the name of the content provider, for example

contacts, browser etc. For third-party
content providers, this could be the fully qualified name, such

ascom.tutorialspoint.statusprovider
This indicates the type of data that this particular provider provides.
For example, if you are getting all

the contacts from the Contacts content provider, then the data path
data_type would be people and URI would

look like this content://contacts/people
Id
This specifies the specific record requested. For example, if you are
looking for contact number 5 in
the Contacts content provider then URI would look like

thiscontent://contacts/people/5.
Create Content Provider

This involves number of simple steps to create your own content provider.

First of all you need to create a Content Provider class that extends the
ContentProviderbaseclass.

Second, you need to define your content provider URI address which will be used
to access the content.

Next you will need to create your own database to keep the content. Usually,
Android uses SQLite database and framework needs to override onCreate() method
which will use SQLite Open Helper method to create or open the providers databse.
When your application is launched, theonCreate() handler of each of its Content
Providers is called on the main application thread.

Next you will have to implement Content Provider queries to perform different
database specific operations.

Finally register your Content Provider in your acitivity file using <provider> tag.

Here is the list of methods which you need to override in Content Provider class to have
your Content Provider working:

onCreate() This method is called when the provider is started.

query() This method receives a request from a client. The result is returned as a
Cursor object.

insert()This method inserts a new record into the content provider.

delete() This method deletes an existing record from the content provider.

update() This method updates an existing record from the content provider.

getType() This method returns the MIME type of the data at the given URI.

Example

This example will explain you how to create your own ContentProvider. So lets follow
the following steps to similar to what we followed while creating Hello World Example:

Step Description

MyContentProviderunder a
1 package com.example.mycontentprovider, with blank Activity.

2 Modify main activity file MainActivity.java to add
two new methods onClickAddName()
andonClickRetrieveStudents().

3 Create a new java file called StudentsProvider.java under the packagecom.example.mycontentprovider
to define your actual provider and associated methods.
Register your content provider in your AndroidManifest.xml file using

4 <provider/> tag

5 Modify the detault content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include a small GUI to add
sudents records.
6 Define required constants in res/values/strings.xml file
7 of the changes done in the aplication.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity
filesrc/com.example.mycontentprovider/MainActivity.java. This file can include each
of the fundamental lifecycle methods. We have added two new methods
onClickAddName() andonClickRetrieveStudents() to handle user interaction with the
application.

package com.example.mycontentprovider;

import android.net.Uri; import
android.os.Bundle; import

import android.content.ContentValues;
import android.content.CursorLoader;
import android.database.Cursor; import
android.view.Menu;

import android.view.View; import
android.widget.EditText; import
android.widget.Toast;


@Override

protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {

@Override

getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu); return
true;

public void onClickAddName(View view) {
// Add a new student record
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();

values.put(StudentsProvider.NAME,
((EditText)findViewById(R.id.txtName)).getText().toString());

values.put(StudentsProvider.GRADE,
((EditText)findViewById(R.id.txtGrade)).getText().toString());

Uri uri = getContentResolver().insert(

StudentsProvider.CONTENT_URI, values);

Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), uri.toString(),
}

public void onClickRetrieveStudents(View view) { //
Retrieve student records

String URL = content://com.example.provider.College/students; Uri
students = Uri.parse(URL);

Cursor c = managedQuery(students, null, null, null, name); if
(c.moveToFirst()) {

do{

Toast.makeText(this,
c.getString(c.getColumnIndex(StudentsProvider._ID)) +
, + c.getString(c.getColumnIndex( StudentsProvider.NAME)) +

, + c.getString(c.getColumnIndex( StudentsProvider.GRADE)),
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
} while (c.moveToNext());
}

Create new file StudentsProvider.java under com.example.mycontentprovider package and
following is the content of
src/com.example.mycontentprovider/StudentsProvider.java:

package com.example.mycontentprovider;

import java.util.HashMap;

import android.content.ContentProvider;
import android.content.ContentUris;
import android.content.ContentValues;

import android.content.UriMatcher;
import android.database.Cursor; import
android.database.SQLException;

import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabase;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteOpenHelper;
import android.database.sqlite.SQLiteQueryBuilder;
import android.net.Uri;
import android.text.TextUtils;

public class StudentsProvider extends ContentProvider {

static final String PROVIDER_NAME =
com.example.provider.College; static final String URL = content:// +
PROVIDER_NAME + /students; static final Uri CONTENT_URI =
Uri.parse(URL);

static final String _ID = _id; static
final String NAME = name; static
final String GRADE = grade;

private static HashMap<String, String> STUDENTS_PROJECTION_MAP;

static final int STUDENTS = 1;
static final int STUDENT_ID = 2;

static final UriMatcher uriMatcher;
static{

uriMatcher = new UriMatcher(UriMatcher.NO_MATCH);
uriMatcher.addURI(PROVIDER_NAME, students,
STUDENTS); uriMatcher.addURI(PROVIDER_NAME,
students/#, STUDENT_ID);

/**

* Database specific constant declarations */

private SQLiteDatabase db;

static final String DATABASE_NAME = College;
static final String STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME =
students; static final int DATABASE_VERSION = 1;

static final String CREATE_DB_TABLE =

CREATE TABLE + STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME +
(_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT, +
name TEXT NOT NULL, +
grade TEXT NOT NULL);;
/**

* Helper class that actually creates and manages
* the providers underlying data repository.

*/

private static class DatabaseHelper extends
SQLiteOpenHelper { DatabaseHelper(Context context){

super(context, DATABASE_NAME, null, DATABASE_VERSION);

@Override

public void onCreate(SQLiteDatabase db)

db.execSQL(CREATE_DB_TABLE);

@Override

public void onUpgrade(SQLiteDatabase db, int
oldVersion, int newVersion) {

db.execSQL(DROP TABLE IF EXISTS +
STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME); onCreate(db);
}

@Override

public boolean onCreate() { Context
context = getContext();

DatabaseHelper dbHelper = new DatabaseHelper(context); /**
* Create a write able database which will trigger its
* creation if it doesnt already exist.

*/

db = dbHelper.getWritableDatabase(); return
(db == null)? false:true;
}

@Override

public Uri insert(Uri uri, ContentValues values) { /**

* Add a new student record */

long rowID = db.insert( STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME, , values); /**

* If record is added successfully */
if (rowID > 0)

Uri _uri = ContentUris.withAppendedId(CONTENT_URI, rowID);
getContext().getContentResolver().notifyChange(_uri, null); return _uri;

}
throw new SQLException(Failed to add a record into + uri);

@Override

public Cursor query(Uri uri, String[] projection, String selection,
String[] selectionArgs, String sortOrder) {

SQLiteQueryBuilder qb = new SQLiteQueryBuilder();
qb.setTables(STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME);

switch (uriMatcher.match(uri)) { case
STUDENTS:

qb.setProjectionMap(STUDENTS_PROJECTION_MAP);
break;
case STUDENT_ID:

qb.appendWhere( _ID + = + uri.getPathSegments().get(1)); break;

default:

throw new IllegalArgumentException(Unknown URI + uri);

if (sortOrder == null || sortOrder == ){ /**

* By default sort on student names */
sortOrder = NAME;

Cursor c = qb.query(db, projection, selection, selectionArgs, null,
null, sortOrder);
/**

* register to watch a content URI for changes */
c.setNotificationUri(getContext().getContentResolver(), uri);

return c;

@Override

public int delete(Uri uri, String selection, String[] selectionArgs) { int count = 0;
switch (uriMatcher.match(uri)){ case

STUDENTS:

count = db.delete(STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME, selection, selectionArgs);
break;
case STUDENT_ID:
String id = uri.getPathSegments().get(1);

count = db.delete( STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME, _ID + = +
id + (!TextUtils.isEmpty(selection) ? AND ( + selection + )
: ), selectionArgs);

break;
default:
throw new IllegalArgumentException(Unknown URI + uri);

getContext().getContentResolver().notifyChange(uri, null); return
count;
}

@Override

public int update(Uri uri, ContentValues values, String
selection, String[] selectionArgs) {
int count = 0;

switch (uriMatcher.match(uri)){ case
STUDENTS:

count =
db.update(STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME,
values, selection, selectionArgs);
break;

case STUDENT_ID:

count = db.update(STUDENTS_TABLE_NAME,
values, _ID + = + uri.getPathSegments().get(1) +
(!TextUtils.isEmpty(selection) ? AND ( + selection
+ ) : ), selectionArgs);

break;
default:
throw new IllegalArgumentException(Unknown URI + uri );

getContext().getContentResolver().notifyChange(uri, null);

return count;

@Override

public String getType(Uri uri) {
switch (uriMatcher.match(uri)){
/**

* Get all student records
*/
case STUDENTS:

return vnd.android.cursor.dir/vnd.example.students;

/**

* Get a particular student
*/
case STUDENT_ID:

return vnd.android.cursor.item/vnd.example.students;
default:
throw new IllegalArgumentException(Unsupported URI: + uri);

}
}

<provider/> tag to include our content provider:


<manifest
package=com.example.mycontentprovider

>

<uses-sdk
android:targetSdkVersion=17 />

<application
android:allowBackup=true
<activity

android:name=com.example.mycontentprovider.MainActivity
android:label=@string/app_name >
<intent-filter>

<category
android:name=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER />
</intent-filter>
</activity>

<provider android:name=StudentsProvider
android:authorities=com.example.provider.College>

</provider>

</application>

</manifest>

Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include a button to
broadcast your custom intent:

<LinearLayout

<TextView
android:text=Name />

<EditText
android:id=@+id/txtName

android:layout_width=fill_parent />
<TextView
android:text=Grade />

<EditText
android:id=@+id/txtGrade

android:layout_width=fill_parent />
<Button

android:text=Add Name
android:id=@+id/btnAdd
android:onClick=onClickAddName
/> <Button

android:text=Retrieve Students
android:id=@+id/btnRetrieve
android:onClick=onClickRetrieveStudents
/>
</LinearLayout>

Make sure you have following content of res/values/strings.xml file:

> <resources>

<string
name=app_name>MyContentProvider</string>
<string name=action_settings>Settings</string>
<string name=hello_world>Hello world!</string>

</resources>;

Lets try to run our modified MyContentProvider application we just created. I assume
you had created your AVD while doing environment setup. To run the app from Eclipse,
open one of your projects activity files and

click Run icon from the toolbar. Eclipse installs the app on your AVD and starts it and if
everything is fine with your setup and application, it will display following Emulator
window, be patience because it may take sometime based on your computer speed:

Now lets enter student Name and Grade and finally click on Add Name button, this will
add student record in the database and will flash a message at the bottom showing
ContentProvider URI along with record number added in the database. This operation
makes use of our insert() method. Lets repeat this process to add few more students in the
database of our content provider.

Once you are done with adding records in the database, now its time to ask
ContentProvider to give us those records back, so lets click Retrieve Students button
which will fetch and display all the records one by one which is as per our the
implementation of our query() method.

You can write activities against update and delete operations by providing callback
functions inMainActivity.java file and then modify user interface to have buttons for
update and deleted operations in the same way as we have done for add and read
operations.

This way you can use existing Content Provider like Address Book or you can use Content
Provider concept in developing nice database oriented applications where you can perform
all sort of database operations like read, write, update and delete as explained above in the
example.
CHAPTER
11

Fragments

Fragment is a piece of an applications user interface or behavior that can be

placed in an Activity which

enable more modular activity design. It will not be wrong if we say, a fragment is a kind
of sub-acitivity. Following are important points about fragment:

A fragment has its own layout and its own behavior with its own lifecycle
callbacks.

You can add or remove fragments in an activity while the activity is running.

You can combine multiple fragments in a single activity to build a multi-pane UI.

A fragment can be used in multiple activities.

Fragment life cycle is closely related to the lifecycle of its host activity which
means when the activity is paused, all the fragments available in the acivity will also
be stopped.

A fragment can implement a behavior that has no user interface component.

Fragments were added to the Android API in Honeycomb version of Android
which API version 11.

You create fragments by extending Fragment class and You can insert a fragment into
your activity layout by declaring the fragment in the activitys layout file, as a
<fragment> element.

Prior to fragment introduction, we had a limitation because we can show only a single
activity on the screen at one given point in time. So we were not able to divide device
screen and control different parts separately. But with the introduction of fragment we got
more flexibility and removed the limitation of having a single activity on the screen at a
time. Now we can have a single acitivity but each acitivity can comprise of multiple
fragments which will have their own layout, events and complete lifecycle.

Following is a typical example of how two UI modules defined by fragments can be
combined into one activity for a tablet design, but separated for a handset design.

The application can embed two fragments in Activity A, when running on a tablet-sized
device. However, on a handset-sized screen, theres not enough room for both fragments,
so Activity A includes only the fragment for the list of articles, and when the user selects
an article, it starts Activity B, which includes the second fragment to read the article.
Fragment Life Cycle

Android fragments have their own life cycle very similar to an android activity. This
section briefs different stages of its life cycle.

Phase I: When a fragment gets created, it goes
through the following states:

onAttach()

onCreate()

onCreateView()

onActivityCreated()

Phase II: When the fragment becomes visible,
it goes through these states:

onStart()

onResume()

Phase III: When the fragment goes into the
background mode, it goes through these states:

onPaused()

onStop()

Phase IV: When the fragment is destroyed, it
goes through the following states:

onPaused()

onStop()

onDestroyView()

onDestroy()

onDetach()
How to use Fragments?

This involves number of simple steps to create Fragments.

First of all decide how many fragments you want to use in an activity. Fors
example lets we want to use two fragments to handle landscape and portrait modes of
the device.

Next based on number of fragments, create classes which will extend the
Fragment class. The Fragment class has above mentioned callback functions. You can
override any of the functions based on your requirements.

Corresponding to each fragment, you will need to create layout files in XML file.
These files will have layout for the defined fragments.

Finally modify activity file to define the actual logic of replacing fragments based
on your requirement.

Here is the list of important methods which you can to override in your fragment class:

onCreate() The system calls this when creating the fragment. You should
initialize essential components of the fragment that you want to retain when the
fragment is paused or stopped, then resumed.

onCreateView() The system calls this callback when its time for the fragment
to draw its user interface for the first time. To draw a UI for your fragment, you must
return a View component from this method that is the root of your fragments layout.
You can return null if the fragment does not provide a UI.

onPause() The system calls this method as the first indication that the user is
leaving the fragment. This is usually where you should commit any changes that
should be persisted beyond the current user session.
Example

This example will explain you how to create your own Fragments. Here we will create
two fragments and one of them will be used when device is in landscape mode and
another fragment will be used in case of portrait mode. So lets follow the following
steps to similar to what we followed while creatingHello World Example:

Step Description

MyFragments under a
1 package com.example.myfragments, with blank Activity.

2 Modify main activity file MainActivity.java as shown below in the code. Here we will check
orientation of the device and accordingly we will switch between different fragments.
Create a two java files PM_Fragment.java and LM_Fragement.java under the
3 packagecom.example.myfragments to define your fragments and associated

methods.

4 Create layouts files res/layout/lm_fragment.xml and res/layout/pm_fragment.xml and define your
layouts for both the fragments.<

5 include both the fragments.
7 the changes done in the aplication.

Following is the content of the modified main activity
filesrc/com.example.mycontentprovider/MainActivity.java:

package com.example.myfragments;


import android.app.FragmentManager;
import android.app.FragmentTransaction;
import android.content.res.Configuration;
import android.view.WindowManager;


@Override

protected void onCreate(Bundle

Configuration config = getResources().getConfiguration();

FragmentManager fragmentManager =
getFragmentManager(); FragmentTransaction
fragmentTransaction =
fragmentManager.beginTransaction();

/**

* Check the device orientation and act accordingly

*/

if (config.orientation ==
Configuration.ORIENTATION_LANDSCAPE) { /**

* Landscape mode of the
device */

LM_Fragment ls_fragment = new LM_Fragment();
fragmentTransaction.replace(android.R.id.content, ls_fragment);

}else{
/**

* Portrait mode of the device
*/

PM_Fragment pm_fragment = new PM_Fragment();
fragmentTransaction.replace(android.R.id.content, pm_fragment);

fragmentTransaction.commit();

Create two fragment

files LM_Fragement.java and PM_Fragment.java
undercom.example.mycontentprovider package. Following is the content of
LM_Fragement.java file:


import
android.app.Fragment;

import android.view.LayoutInflater;

import android.view.ViewGroup;

public class LM_Fragment extends
Fragment{ @Override

public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater,
ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
/**

* Inflate the layout for this fragment */

return inflater.inflate( R.layout.lm_fragment, container,
false);

Following is the content of PM_Fragement.java file:


import
android.app.Fragment;

import android.view.LayoutInflater;

import android.view.ViewGroup;

public class PM_Fragment extends
Fragment{ @Override

public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater,
ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
/**

* Inflate the layout for this fragment */

return inflater.inflate( R.layout.pm_fragment, container, false);

Create two layout files lm_fragement.xml and pm_fragment.xml under res/layout
directory.

Following is the content of lm_fragement.xml file:

<LinearLayout

android:orientation=vertical android:layout_width=fill_parent
android:layout_height=fill_parent android:background=#7bae16>

<TextView android:layout_width=fill_parent
android:text=@string/landscape_message
android:textColor=#000000
android:textSize=20px />

<! More GUI components go here >

</LinearLayout>

Following is the content of pm_fragment.xml file:

<LinearLayout

android:orientation=horizontal android:layout_width=fill_parent
android:layout_height=fill_parent android:background=#666666>

<TextView android:layout_width=fill_parent
android:text=@string/portrait_message
android:textColor=#000000
android:textSize=20px />

<! More GUI components go here >

</LinearLayout>

Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file which includes your
fragments:


xmlns:tools=http://schemas.android.com/tools android:layout_width=fill_parent
android:layout_height=fill_parent android:orientation=horizontal>

<fragment

android:name=com.example.fragments
android:id=@+id/lm_fragment
android:layout_weight=1
android:layout_width=0dp
android:layout_height=match_parent
/>

<fragment
android:name=com.example.fragments
android:id=@+id/pm_fragment
android:layout_weight=2
/>

</LinearLayout>

Make sure you have following content of res/values/strings.xml file:

> <resources>

<string
name=app_name>MyFragments</string>
</string>

<string name=landscape_message>This is Landscape mode
fragment </string>

<string name=portrait_message>This is Portrait mode fragment
</string>

</resources>

Lets try to run our modified MyFragments application we just created. I assume you had
created yourAVD while

starts it and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it will display Emulator
window where you will click on Menu button to see the following window. Be patience
because it may take sometime based on your computer speed:

To change the mode of the emulator screen, lets do the following:

fn+control+F11 on Mac to change the landscape to portrait and vice versa.

ctrl+F11 on Windows.

ctrl+F11 on Linux.

Once you changed the mode, you will be able to see the GUI which you have
implemented for landscape mode as below:

This way you can use same activity but different GUIs through different fragments. You
can use different type of GUI components for different GUIs based on your requirements.
CHAPTER
12

Intents and Filters

n Android Intent is an object carrying an intent ie. message from one

component to another component

with-in the application or outside the application. The intents can communicate messages
among any of the three core components of an application - activities, services, and
broadcast receivers.

The intent itself, an Intent object, is a passive data structure holding an abstract
description of an operation to be performed.

For example, lets assume that you have an Activity that needs to launch an email client
and sends an email using your Android device. For this purpose, your Activity would
send an ACTION_SEND along with appropriate chooser, to the Android Intent Resolver.
The specified chooser gives the proper interface for the user to pick how to send your
email data.

For example, assume that you have an Activity that needs to open URL in a web browser
on your Android device. For this purpose, your Activity will send
ACTION_WEB_SEARCH Intent to the Android Intent Resolver to open given URL in
the web browser. The Intent Resolver parses through a list of Activities and chooses the
one that would best match your Intent, in this case, the Web Browser Activity. The Intent
Resolver then passes your web page to the web browser and starts the Web Browser
Activity.

There are separate mechanisms for delivering intents to each type of component activities, services, and broadcast receivers.
S.N. Method & Description

Context.startActivity()

1 The Intent object is passed to this method to launch a new activity or get
an existing activity to do something new.

Context.startService()

2 The Intent object is passed to this method to initiate a service or deliver new
instructions to an ongoing service.
3 Context.sendBroadcast()

The Intent object is passed to this method to deliver the message to all interested
broadcast receivers.
Intent Objects

An Intent object is a bundle of information which is used by the component that receives
the intent plus information used by the Android system.

An Intent object can contain the following components based on what it is
communicating or going to perform:
ACTION

This is mandatory part of the Intent object and is a string naming the action to be
performed or, in the case of broadcast intents, the action that took place and is being
reported. The action largely determines how the rest of the intent object is structured . The
Intent class defines a number of action constants corresponding to different intents. Here is
a list of Android Intent Standard Actions
Android Intent Standard Actions:

Following table lists down various important Android Intent Standard Actions. You can
check Android Official Documentation for a complete list of Actions:

S.N. Activity Action Intent & Description
1 ACTION_ALL_APPS

List all the applications available on the device.
2 ACTION_ANSWER

Handle an incoming phone call.
3 ACTION_ATTACH_DATA

Used to indicate that some piece of data should be attached to some other place
4 ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED

This is a sticky broadcast containing the charging state, level, and other information
about the battery.
5 ACTION_BATTERY_LOW

This broadcast corresponds to the Low battery warning system dialog.
6 ACTION_BATTERY_OKAY

This will be sent after ACTION_BATTERY_LOW once the battery has gone back
up to an okay state.
7 ACTION_BOOT_COMPLETED

This is broadcast once, after the system has finished booting.
8 ACTION_BUG_REPORT

Show activity for reporting a bug.
9 ACTION_CALL

Perform a call to someone specified by the data.
10 ACTION_CALL_BUTTON

The user pressed the call button to go to the dialer or other appropriate UI for
placing a call.
11 ACTION_CAMERA_BUTTON

The Camera Button was pressed.
12 ACTION_CHOOSER

Display an activity chooser, allowing the user to pick what they want to before
proceeding.
13 ACTION_CONFIGURATION_CHANGED

The current device Configuration (orientation, locale, etc) has changed.
14 ACTION_DATE_CHANGED

The date has changed.
15 ACTION_DEFAULT

A synonym for ACTION_VIEW, the standard action that is performed on a piece
of data.
16 ACTION_DELETE

Delete the given data from its container.
17 ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_LOW

A sticky broadcast that indicates low memory condition on the device.
18 ACTION_DEVICE_STORAGE_OK

Indicates low memory condition on the device no longer exists.
19 ACTION_DIAL

Dial a number as specified by the data.
20 ACTION_DOCK_EVENT

A sticky broadcast for changes in the physical docking state of the device.
21 ACTION_DREAMING_STARTED

Sent after the system starts dreaming.
22 ACTION_DREAMING_STOPPED

Sent after the system stops dreaming.
23 ACTION_EDIT

Provide explicit editable access to the given data.
24 ACTION_FACTORY_TEST

Main entry point for factory tests.
25 ACTION_GET_CONTENT

Allow the user to select a particular kind of data and return it.
26 ACTION_GTALK_SERVICE_CONNECTED

A GTalk connection has been established.
27 ACTION_GTALK_SERVICE_DISCONNECTED

A GTalk connection has been disconnected.
28 ACTION_HEADSET_PLUG

Wired Headset plugged in or unplugged.
29 ACTION_INPUT_METHOD_CHANGED

An input method has been changed.
30 ACTION_INSERT

Insert an empty item into the given container.
31 ACTION_INSERT_OR_EDIT

Pick an existing item, or insert a new item, and then edit it.
32 ACTION_INSTALL_PACKAGE

Launch application installer.
33 ACTION_LOCALE_CHANGED

The current devices locale has changed.
34 ACTION_MAIN

Start as a main entry point, does not expect to receive data.
35 ACTION_MEDIA_BUTTON

The Media Button was pressed.
36 ACTION_MEDIA_CHECKING

External media is present, and being disk-checked.
37 ACTION_MEDIA_EJECT

User has expressed the desire to remove the external storage media.
38 ACTION_MEDIA_REMOVED

External media has been removed.
39 ACTION_NEW_OUTGOING_CALL

An outgoing call is about to be placed.
40 ACTION_PASTE

Create a new item in the given container, initializing it from the current contents of
the clipboard.
41 ACTION_POWER_CONNECTED

External power has been connected to the device.
42 ACTION_REBOOT

Have the device reboot. This is only for use by system code.
43 ACTION_RUN

Run the data, whatever that means.
44 ACTION_SCREEN_OFF

Sent after the screen turns off.
45 ACTION_SCREEN_ON

Sent after the screen turns on.
46 ACTION_SEARCH

Perform a search.
47 ACTION_SEND

Deliver some data to someone else.
48 ACTION_SENDTO

Send a message to someone specified by the data.
49 ACTION_SEND_MULTIPLE

Deliver multiple data to someone else.
50 ACTION_SET_WALLPAPER

Show settings for choosing wallpaper.
51 ACTION_SHUTDOWN

Device is shutting down.
52 ACTION_SYNC

Perform a data synchronization.
53 ACTION_TIMEZONE_CHANGED

The timezone has changed.
54 ACTION_TIME_CHANGED

The time was set.
55 ACTION_VIEW

Display the data to the user.
56 ACTION_VOICE_COMMAND

Start Voice Command.

57 ACTION_WALLPAPER_CHANGED

The current system wallpaper has changed.

58 ACTION_WEB_SEARCH

Perform a web search.

The action in an Intent object can be set by the setAction() method and read by
getAction().
DATA

The URI of the data to be acted on and the MIME type of that data. For example, if the
action field is ACTION_EDIT, the data field would contain the URI of the document to be
displayed for editing.

The setData() method specifies data only as a URI, setType() specifies it only as a MIME
type, and setDataAndType() specifies it as both a URI and a MIME type. The URI is read
by getData() and the type by getType().

Some examples of action/data pairs are:
S.N. Action/Data Pair & Description
ACTION_VIEW
content://contacts/people/1
Display information about the person
whose identifier is 1.
ACTION_DIAL
Display the phone dialer with the person
filled in.
ACTION_VIEW tel:123
Display the phone dialer with the given
number filled in.
ACTION_DIAL tel:123
Display the phone dialer with the given
number filled in.
ACTION_EDIT
Edit information about the person
whose identifier is 1.
ACTION_VIEW
content://contacts/people/
Display a list of people, which the user
can browse through.
CATEGORY

The category is an optional part of Intent object and its a string containing additional
information about the kind of component that should handle the intent. The addCategory()
method places a category in an Intent object, removeCategory() deletes a category
previously added, and getCategories() gets the set of all categories currently in the object.
Here is a list of Android Intent Standard Categories.
Android Intent Standard Categories

Following table lists down various important Android Intent Standard Categories. You can
check Android Official Documentation for a complete list of Categories:

S.N. Categories & Description

1 CATEGORY_APP_BROWSER

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the browser application.
2 CATEGORY_APP_CALCULATOR

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the calculator application.
3 CATEGORY_APP_CALENDAR

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the calendar application.
4 CATEGORY_APP_CONTACTS

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the contacts application.
5 CATEGORY_APP_EMAIL

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the email application.
6 CATEGORY_APP_GALLERY

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the gallery application.
7 CATEGORY_APP_MAPS

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the maps application.
8 CATEGORY_APP_MARKET

This activity allows the user to browse and download new applications.
9 CATEGORY_APP_MESSAGING

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the messaging application.
10 CATEGORY_APP_MUSIC

Used with ACTION_MAIN to launch the music application.
11 CATEGORY_BROWSABLE

Activities that can be safely invoked from a browser must support this category.
12 CATEGORY_CAR_DOCK

An activity to run when device is inserted into a car dock.
13 CATEGORY_CAR_MODE

Used to indicate that the activity can be used in a car environment.
14 CATEGORY_DEFAULT

Set if the activity should be an option for the default action (center press) to perform
on a piece of data.
15 CATEGORY_DESK_DOCK

An activity to run when device is inserted into a car dock.
16 CATEGORY_DEVELOPMENT_PREFERENCE

This activity is a development preference panel.
17 CATEGORY_EMBED

Capable of running inside a parent activity container.
18 CATEGORY_FRAMEWORK_INSTRUMENTATION_TEST

To be used as code under test for framework instrumentation tests.
19 CATEGORY_HE_DESK_DOCK

An activity to run when device is inserted into a digital (high end) dock.
20 CATEGORY_HOME

This is the home activity, that is the first activity that is displayed when the device
boots.
21 CATEGORY_INFO

Provides information about the package it is in.

22 CATEGORY_LAUNCHER

Should be displayed in the top-level launcher.

23 CATEGORY_LE_DESK_DOCK

An activity to run when device is inserted into a analog (low end) dock.

24 CATEGORY_MONKEY

This activity may be exercised by the monkey or other automated test tools.

CATEGORY_OPENABLE
25 Used to indicate that a GET_CONTENT intent only wants URIs that can be opened
with

ContentResolver.openInputStream.
26 CATEGORY_PREFERENCE

This activity is a preference panel.

27 CATEGORY_TAB

Intended to be used as a tab inside of a containing TabActivity.

28 CATEGORY_TEST

To be used as a test (not part of the normal user experience).

29 CATEGORY_UNIT_TEST

To be used as a unit test (run through the Test Harness).

You can check detail on Intent Filters in below section to understand how do we use
categories to choose appropriate acivity coressponding to an Intent.
EXTRAS

This will be in key-value pairs for additional information that should be delivered to the
component handling the intent. The extras can be set and read using the putExtras() and
getExtras() methods respectively. Here is a list of Android Intent Standard Extra Data
Android Intent standard Extra Data

Following table lists down various important Android Intent Standard Extra Data. You can
check Android Official Documentation for a complete list of Extra Data:
S.N. Extra Data & Description
EXTRA_ALARM_COUNT
Used as an int extra field in AlarmManager intents to tell the

application being invoked how many pending
alarms are being delievered with the intent.
2 EXTRA_ALLOW_MULTIPLE

Used to indicate that a ACTION_GET_CONTENT intent can allow the user to

select and return multiple

items.
3 EXTRA_ALLOW_REPLACE

Used as a boolean extra field with ACTION_INSTALL_PACKAGE to install a
package.
4 EXTRA_BCC

A String[] holding e-mail addresses that should be blind carbon copied.
5 EXTRA_CC

A String[] holding e-mail addresses that should be carbon copied.
EXTRA_CHANGED_COMPONENT_NAME_LIST
This field is part of ACTION_PACKAGE_CHANGED, and contains

6 a string array of all of the components

that have changed.
EXTRA_DATA_REMOVED
Used as a boolean extra field in ACTION_PACKAGE_REMOVED

7 intents to indicate whether this
represents a full uninstall or a partial uninstall
8 EXTRA_DOCK_STATE
Used as an int extra field in ACTION_DOCK_EVENT intents to request the dock

state.
9 EXTRA_DOCK_STATE_CAR

Used as an int value for EXTRA_DOCK_STATE to represent that the phone is in a
car dock.
10 EXTRA_DOCK_STATE_DESK

Used as an int value for EXTRA_DOCK_STATE to represent that the phone is in a
desk dock.
11 EXTRA_EMAIL

A String[] holding e-mail addresses that should be delivered to.

EXTRA_HTML_TEXT
12 A constant String that is associated with the Intent, used with ACTION_SEND to
supply an alternative to

EXTRA_TEXT as HTML formatted text.
13 EXTRA_INTENT

An Intent describing the
ACTION_PICK_ACTIVITY.
choices
you
would
like
shown
with
14 EXTRA_KEY_EVENT

A KeyEvent object containing the event that triggered the creation of the Intent it is
in.

EXTRA_LOCAL_ONLY
15 Used to indicate that a ACTION_GET_CONTENT intent should only return data
that is on the local

device.

EXTRA_ORIGINATING_URI
16 Used as a URI extra field with ACTION_INSTALL_PACKAGE and
ACTION_VIEW to indicate the URI

from which the local APK in the Intent data field originated from.

EXTRA_PHONE_NUMBER
17 A String holding the phone number originally entered in
ACTION_NEW_OUTGOING_CALL, or the actual

number to call in a ACTION_CALL.
18 EXTRA_SHORTCUT_ICON

The name of the extra used to define the icon, as a Bitmap, of a shortcut.

19 EXTRA_SHORTCUT_INTENT

The name of the extra used to define the Intent of a shortcut.
20 EXTRA_SHORTCUT_NAME

The name of the extra used to define the name of a shortcut.

EXTRA_STREAM
21 URI holding a stream of data associated with the Intent, used with ACTION_SEND
to supply the data

being sent.

22 EXTRA_SUBJECT

A constant string holding the desired subject line of a message.

23 EXTRA_TEMPLATE

The initial data to place in a newly created record. Use with ACTION_INSERT.

EXTRA_TEXT
24 A constant CharSequence that is associated with the Intent, used with
ACTION_SEND to supply the

literal data to be sent.

25 EXTRA_TITLE

A CharSequence dialog title to provide to the user when used with a
ACTION_CHOOSER.

EXTRA_UID
26 Used as an int extra field in ACTION_UID_REMOVED intents to supply the uid
the package had been

assigned.

FLAGS

These flags are optional part of Intent object and instruct the Android system how to
launch an activity, and how to treat it after its launched etc.
COMPONENT NAME

This optional field is an android ComponentName object representing either Activity,
Service or BroadcastReceiver class. If it is set, the Intent object is delivered to an instance
of the designated class otherwise Android uses other information in the Intent object to
locate a suitable target.

The component name is set by setComponent(), setClass(), or setClassName() and read by
getComponent().
Types of Intents

There are following two types of intents supported by Android till version 4.1
EXPLICIT INTENTS

These intents designate the target component by its name and they are typically used for
application-internal messages - such as an activity starting a subordinate service or

launching a sister activity. For example:

// Explicit Intent by specifying its class name Intent
i = new Intent(this, TargetActivity.class);
i.putExtra(Key1, ABC);

i.putExtra(Key2, 123);

// Starts TargetActivity

startActivity(i);
IMPLICIT INTENTS

These intents do not name a target and the field for the component name is left blank.
Implicit intents are often used to activate components in other applications. For example:

// Implicit Intent by specifying a URI
Intent i = new
Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW,
Uri.parse(http://www.example.com));

// Starts Implicit Activity

startActivity(i);

The target component which receives the intent can use the getExtras() method to get
the extra data sent by the source component. For example:

// Get bundle object at appropriate place in your code
Bundle extras = getIntent().getExtras();

// Extract data using passed keys

String value1 = extras.getString(Key1);

String value2 = extras.getString(Key2);
Example

Following example shows the functionality of a Android Intent to launch various Android
built-in applications.
Step Description
as IntentDemo under a

package com.example.intentdemo. While creating this project, make

sure you Target SDKand Compile
With at the latest version of Android SDK to use higher levels of APIs.
Modify src/MainActivity.java file and add the code to define two

listeners corresponding two buttons ie.
Start Browser and Start Phone.
Modify layout XML file res/layout/activity_main.xml to add three

buttons in linear layout.
Modify res/values/strings.xml to define required constant values

filesrc/com.example.intentdemo/MainActivity.java.

package com.example.intentdemo;

android.app.Activity; import
android.content.Intent; import
android.view.Menu; import
android.view.View; import
android.widget.Button;


@Override



Button startBrowser = (Button) findViewById(R.id.start_browser);
startBrowser.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
public void onClick(View view) {

Intent i = new Intent(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW,
startActivity(i);

});

Button startPhone = (Button) findViewById(R.id.start_phone);
startPhone.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {


Uri.parse(tel:9510300000));

startActivity(i);

});
}

@Override


// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action
// bar if it is present.

true;
}

Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file:



<Button android:id=@+id/start_browser
android:text=@string/start_browser/>

<Button android:id=@+id/start_phone
android:text=@string/start_phone />

</LinearLayout>

<resources>

<string name=app_name>IntentDemo</string> <string
name=action_settings>Settings</string> <string
name=hello_world>Hello world!</string> <string
name=start_browser>Start Browser</string> <string
name=start_phone>Start Phone</string>

</resources>

Following is the default content of AndroidManifest.xml:


<manifest
package=com.example.intentdemo

>

<uses-sdk

<application
<activity

android:name=com.example.intentdemo.MainActivity
android:label=@string/app_name > <intent-filter>

<category
android:name=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER /> </intentfilter>
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Lets try to run your IntentDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD while
doing environment setup.

To run the app from Eclipse, open one of your projects activity files and click Run icon
from the toolbar. Eclipse installs the app on your AVD and starts it and if everything is
fine with your setup and application, it will display following Emulator window:

Now click on Start Browser button, which will start a browser configured and display
http://www.example.com as shown below:

Similar way you can launch phone interface using Start Phone button, which will allow
you to dial already given phone number.
Intent Filters

You have seen how an Intent has been used to call an another activity. Android OS uses
filters to pinpoint the set of Activities, Services, and Broadcast receivers that can handle
the Intent with help of specified set of action, categories, data scheme associated with an
Intent. You will use <intent-filter>element in the manifest file to list down actions,
categories and data types associated with any activity, service, or broadcast receiver.

Following is an example of a part of AndroidManifest.xml file to specify an
activitycom.example.intentdemo.CustomActivity which can be invoked by either of the
two mentioned actions, one category, and one data:

<activity
android:name=.CustomActivity
android:label=@string/app_name>
<intent-filter>

<action android:name=android.intent.action.VIEW />
<action android:name=com.example.intentdemo.LAUNCH
/> <category
android:name=android.intent.category.DEFAULT /> <data
android:scheme=http />

</intent-filter>
</activity>

Once this activity is defined along with above mentioned filters, other activities will be
able to invoke this activity using either the android.intent.action.VIEW, or using the
com.example.intentdemo.LAUNCHaction
provided
their
category
is
android.intent.category.DEFAULT.
The <data> element specifies the data type expected by the activity to be called and for
above example our custom activity expects the data to start with the http://

There may be a situation that an intent can pass through the filters of more than one
activity or service, the user may be asked which component to activate. An exception is
raised if no target can be found.

There are following test Android checks before invoking an activity:

A filter <intent-filter> may list more than one action as shown above but this list
cannot be empty; a filter must contain at least one <action> element, otherwise it will
block all intents. If more than one actions are mentioned then Android tries to match
one of the mentioned actions before invoking the activity.

A filter <intent-filter> may list zero, one or more than one categories. if there is
no category mentioned then Android always pass this test but if more than one
categories are mentioned then for an intent to pass the category test, every category in
the Intent object must match a category in the filter.

Each <data> element can specify a URI and a data type (MIME media type).
There are separate attributes like scheme, host, port, and path for each part of the
URI. An Intent object that contains both a URI and a data type passes the data type
part of the test only if its type matches a type listed in the filter.
Example

Following example is a modification of the above example. Here we will see how
Android resolves conflict if one intent is invoking two activities defined in , next how to
invoke a custom activity using a filter and third one is an exception case if Android does
not file appropriate activity defined for an intent.
Step Description
as IntentDemo under a

package com.example.intentdemo. While creating this project, make
sure you Target SDKand Compile
Modify src/MainActivity.java file and add the code to define three

listeners corresponding to three buttons
defined in layout file.
Add a new src/CustomActivity.java file to have one custom activity

which will be invoked by different
intents.
Modify layout XML file res/layout/activity_main.xml to add three

buttons in linear layout.
Add one layout XML file res/layout/custom_view.xml to add a simple

<TextView> to show the passed data
through intent.
Modify res/values/strings.xml to define required constant values
Modify AndroidManifest.xml to add <intent-filter> to define rules for

your intent to invoke custom activity.

filesrc/com.example.intentdemo/MainActivity.java.




@Override



// First intent to use ACTION_VIEW action with correct data

Button startBrowser_a = (Button) findViewById(R.id.start_browser_a);
startBrowser_a.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

startActivity(i);

});

// Second intent to use LAUNCH action with correct data

Button startBrowser_b = (Button) findViewById(R.id.start_browser_b);
startBrowser_b.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {


Intent i = new Intent(com.example.intentdemo.LAUNCH,
Uri.parse(http://www.example.com)); startActivity(i);

});

// Third intent to use LAUNCH action with incorrect data

Button startBrowser_c = (Button) findViewById(R.id.start_browser_c);
startBrowser_c.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

Intent i = new Intent(com.example.intentdemo.LAUNCH,
Uri.parse(https://www.example.com)); startActivity(i);

});

@Override


// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the

// action bar if it is present.
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;

}

filesrc/com.example.intentdemo/CustomActivity.java.


android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class CustomActivity extends Activity {
@Override

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
setContentView(R.layout.custom_view);

TextView label = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.show_data);

Uri url = getIntent().getData();
label.setText(url.toString());
}




<Button android:id=@+id/start_browser_a
android:text=@string/start_browser_a/>

<Button android:id=@+id/start_browser_b
android:text=@string/start_browser_b/>

<Button android:id=@+id/start_browser_c
android:text=@string/start_browser_c/>

</LinearLayout>

Following will be the content of res/layout/custom_view.xml file:


android:orientation=vertical

android:layout_height=fill_parent >

<TextView android:id=@+id/show_data
android:layout_height=400dp/>

</LinearLayout>


<resources>

<string name=app_name>IntentDemo</string>

<string name=start_browser_a>Start Browser with VIEW action</string> <string
name=start_browser_b>Start Browser with LAUNCH action</string> <string
name=start_browser_c>Exception Condition</string>

</resources>



<manifest
package=com.example.intentdemo

>

<uses-sdk

<application
<activity

android:name=com.example.intentdemo.MainActivity


<category
</activity>

<activity
android:name=com.example.intentdemo.CustomActivity
android:label=@string/app_name>

<intent-filter>

<action android:name=android.intent.action.VIEW />
<action android:name=com.example.intentdemo.LAUNCH
/> <category
android:name=android.intent.category.DEFAULT /> <data
android:scheme=http />

</intent-filter>
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Lets try to run your IntentDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD while


Now lets start with first button Start Browser with VIEW Action. Here we have defined
our custom activity with a filter android.intent.action.VIEW, and there is already one
default activity against VIEW action defined by Android which is launching web browser,
So android displays following two options to select the activity you want to launch.

Now if you select Browser, then Android will launch web browser and open example.com
website but if you select IndentDemo option then Android will launch CustomActivity
which does nothing but just capture passed data and displays in a text view as follows:

Now go back using back button and click on Start Browser with LAUNCH Action
button, here Android applies filter to choose define activity and it simply launch your
custom activity and again it displays following screen:

Again, go back using back button and click on Exception Condition button, here
Android tries to find out a valid filter for the given intent but it does not find a valid
activity defined because this time we have used data as https instead of http though we
are giving a correct action, so Android raises an exception and shows following screen:
CHAPTER
13

UI Layouts

he basic building block for user interface is a View object which is created from
the View class and

occupies a rectangular area on the screen and is responsible for drawing and event
handling. View is the base class for widgets, which are used to create interactive UI
components like buttons, text fields, etc.

The ViewGroup is a subclass of View and provides invisible container that hold other
Views or other ViewGroups and define their layout properties.

At third level we have different layouts which are subclasses of ViewGroup class and a
typical layout defines the visual structure for an Android user interface and can be created
either at run time usingView/ViewGroup objects or you can declare your layout using
simple XML file main_layout.xml which is located in the res/layout folder of your
project.

This tutorial is more about creating your GUI based on layouts defined in XML file. A
layout may contain any type of widgets such as buttons, labels, textboxes, and so on.
Following is a simple example of XML file having LinearLayout:


<LinearLayout
android:layout_height=fill_parent android:orientation=vertical
>

android:text=This is a TextView />
android:text=This is a Button />

<! More GUI components go
here > </LinearLayout>

Once your layout is defined, you can load the layout resource from your application code,
in yourActivity.onCreate() callback implementation as shown below:

Android Layout Types

There are number of Layouts provided by Android which you will use in almost all
the Android applications to provide different view, look and feel.

S.N. Layout & Description

1 Linear Layout

LinearLayout is a view group that aligns all children in a single direction, vertically
or horizontally.
2 Relative Layout

RelativeLayout is a view group that displays child views in relative positions.
3 Table Layout

TableLayout is a view that groups views into rows and columns.
4 Absolute Layout

AbsoluteLayout enables you to specify the exact location of its children.
5 Frame Layout

The FrameLayout is a placeholder on screen that you can use to display a single
view.
6 List View

ListView is a view group that displays a list of scrollable items.
7 Grid View

GridView is a ViewGroup that displays items in a two-dimensional, scrollable grid.
Linear Layout

Android LinearLayout is a view group that aligns all children in a single direction,
vertically orhorizontally.
LinearLayout Attributes

Following are the important attributes specific to LinearLayout:
Description
Attribute
This is the ID which uniquely identifies the layout.
android:id
android:baselineAligned
This must be a boolean value, either true or false and

prevents the layout from aligning
its childrens baselines.
android:divider
This is drawable to use as a vertical divider between

buttons. You use a color value, in the
form of #rgb, #argb, #rrggbb, or #aarrggbb.
android:gravity
This specifies how an object should position its content, on

both the X and Y axes.
Possible values are top, bottom, left, right, center,
center_vertical, center_horizontal etc.
android:orientation
This specifies the direction of arrangmet and you will use

horizontal for a row, vertical
for a column. The default is horizontal.
Example

Android application using Linear Layout. Follow the following steps to modify the
Step Description

1

Example chapter.

2 include few buttons in linear layout.
Define required constants start_service, pause_service and

3 stop_service inres/values/strings.xml file

fundamental lifecycle methods.




@Override


@Override

public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu
menu) {
return true;



<LinearLayout


<Button
android:layout_width=150px
android:text=@string/start_service

<Button
android:id=@+id/btnPauseService
android:text=@string/pause_service

<Button
android:id=@+id/btnStopService
android:text=@string/stop_service

</LinearLayout>


> <resources>

<string name=start_service>Start</string>
<string name=pause_service>Pause</string>
<string name=stop_service>Stop</string>

</resources>


Emulator window:

Now lets change the orientation of Layout as android:orientation=horizontal and try
to run the same application, it will give following screen:
Relative Layout

Android RelativeLayout enables you to specify how child views are positioned
relative to each other. The position of each view can be specified as relative to
sibling elements or relative to the parent.
RelativeLayout Attributes

Following are the important attributes specific to RelativeLayout:
Attribute
Description
android:id
android:gravity
This specifies how an object should position its content, on

both the X and Y axes. Possible
values are top, bottom, left, right, center, center_vertical,

center_horizontal etc.
android:ignoreGravity This indicates what view should not be affected by gravity.

Using RelativeLayout, you can align two elements by right border, or make one
below another, centered in the screen, centered left, and so on. By default, all child
views are drawn at the top-left of the layout, so you must define the position of each
view
using
the
various
layout
properties
available
fromRelativeLayout.LayoutParams and few of the important attributes are given
below:
Attribute
Description
given anchor view ID and
android:layout_above
must be a reference to another resource, in the

form
@[+][package:]type:name
bottom edge of the given
Positions the bottom edge of this view above the
Makes the bottom edge of this view match the
anchor view ID and must be a reference to

android:layout_alignBottom another resource, in the form
@[+][package:]type:name.
android:layout_alignLeft
Makes the left edge of this view match the left

edge of the given anchor
view ID and must be a reference to another
resource, in the form
android:layout_alignParentBottom
If true, makes the bottom edge of this view match

the bottom edge of the
parent. Must be a boolean value, either true or
false.
If true, makes the end edge of this view match the

end edge of the parent.

android:layout_alignParentEnd
Must be a boolean value, either true or false.
android:layout_alignParentLeft
If true, makes the left edge of this view match the

left edge of the parent.
android:layout_alignParentRight
If true, makes the right edge of this view match

the right edge of the parent.
android:layout_alignParentStart
If true, makes the start edge of this view match

the start edge of the parent.
If true, makes the top edge of this view match the
android:layout_alignParentTop
top edge of the parent.
android:layout_alignRight

android:layout_alignStart

android:layout_alignTop

given anchor view ID and
android:layout_below
must be a reference to another resource, in the

form
Makes the right edge of this view match the right
Makes the start edge of this view match the start
Makes the top edge of this view match the top
Positions the top edge of this view below the
If true, centers this child horizontally within its
android:layout_centerHorizontal
parent. Must be a boolean
android:layout_centerInParent
value, either true or false.
If true, centers this child horizontally and

vertically within its parent. Must be
a boolean value, either true or false.
android:layout_centerVertical
If true, centers this child vertically within its

parent. Must be a boolean
value, either true or false.
Positions the start edge of this view to the end of

the given anchor view ID
android:layout_toEndOf
and must be a reference to another resource, in

the form
Positions the right edge of this view to the left of

android:layout_toLeftOf

the form
Positions the left edge of this view to the right of

android:layout_toRightOf

the form
android:layout_toStartOf

the form
Positions the end edge of this view to the start of
Example

Android application using Relative Layout. Follow the following steps to modify the
Step Description


Example chapter.

include few widgets in Relative layout.
Define required constants in res/values/strings.xml file




import
java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.Calendar;

import java.util.Date;


import android.text.format.DateFormat;


@Override


SimpleDateFormat dateFormat = new
SimpleDateFormat(yyyy/MM/dd); Date date = new Date();

String nowDate = dateFormat.format(date);

TextView dateView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.dates);

dateView.setText(nowDate);

SimpleDateFormat timeFormat = new SimpleDateFormat(HH:mm:ss);
String nowTime = timeFormat.format(date);

TextView timeView = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.times);
timeView.setText(nowTime);

@Override

public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu) { //
Inflate the menu;
true;


<RelativeLayout xmlns:android=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android

android:paddingLeft=16dp
android:paddingRight=16dp >
<EditText

android:id=@+id/name
android:hint=@string/reminder />

<TextView

android:id=@+id/dates
android:layout_below=@id/name
android:layout_alignParentLeft=true

android:layout_toLeftOf=@+id/times
/> <TextView

android:id=@id/times
android:layout_below=@id/name
android:layout_alignParentRight=true />

<Button

android:layout_below=@id/times
android:layout_centerInParent=true
android:text=@string/done />

</RelativeLayout>


> <resources>
<string name=reminder>Enter your
name</string> <string
name=done>Done</string>

</resources>


Emulator window:
Table Layout

Android TableLayout groups views into rows and columns. You will use the <TableRow>
element to build a row in the table. Each row has zero or more cells; each cell can hold
one View object.

TableLayout containers do not display border lines for their rows, columns, or cells.
TableLayout Attributes

Following are the important attributes specific to TableLayout:
Attribute
Description
android:id
android:collapseColumns
This specifies the zero-based index of the columns to

collapse. The column
indices must be separated by a comma: 1, 2, 5.
android:collapseColumns
The zero-based index of the columns to shrink. The

column indices must be
separated by a comma: 1, 2, 5.
android:stretchColumns
The zero-based index of the columns to stretch. The

column indices must be
separated by a comma: 1, 2, 5.
Example

This example will take you through simple steps to show how to create your own Android
application using Table Layout. Follow the following steps to modify the Android
application we created in Hello World Example chapter:

Step Description
You will use Eclipse IDE to create an Android application

and name it as HelloWorld under a
package com.example.helloworld as explained in the Hello
World Example chapter.

2 include few widgets in table layout.

4 Run the application to launch Android emulator and verify the result of the changes done in
the aplication.





@Override


@Override

menu) { getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main,
menu); return true;


<TableLayout
android:layout_height=fill_parent>

<TableRow>

<Button
android:id=@+id/backbutton
android:text=Back

/>

</TableRow>
<TableRow>

<TextView
android:text=First Name

android:layout_column=1 />
<EditText

android:width=100px
/>
</TableRow>

<TableRow>

<TextView
android:text=Last
Name

android:layout_column=1 />

<EditText
android:width=100px

/>

</TableRow>

</TableLayout>


<?xml version=1.0 encoding=utf8?> <resources>

<string
name=app_name>HelloWorld</string>
<string
name=action_settings>Settings</string>

</resources>


doing environment setup. To run the app from Eclipse, open one of your projects
activity files and click Run icon from the toolbar. Eclipse installs the app on your
AVD and starts it and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it will
display following Emulator window:
Absolute Layout

An Absolute Layout lets you specify exact locations (x/y coordinates) of its children.
Absolute layouts are less flexible and harder to maintain than other types of layouts
without absolute positioning.
AbsoluteLayout Attributes

Following are the important attributes specific to AbsoluteLayout:
Description
Attribute
android:id
android:layout_x This specifies the x-coordinate of the view.
android:layout_y This specifies the y-coordinate of the view.
Example

Android application using absolute layout. Follow the following steps to modify the
Step Description
HelloWorld under a


chapter.
Modify the detault content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include

few widgets in absolute layout.

filesrc/com.example.helloworld/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of
the fundamental lifecycle methods.


import


@Override


@Override

menu) {
getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main,
menu); return true;


<AbsoluteLayout

<Button

android:text=OK
android:layout_x=50px
android:layout_y=361px />

<Button

android:text=Cancel
android:layout_x=225px
android:layout_y=361px />

</AbsoluteLayout>


> <resources>


</resources>


Emulator window:
Frame Layout

Frame Layout is designed to block out an area on the screen to display a single item.
Generally, FrameLayout should be used to hold a single child view, because it can be
difficult to organize child views in a way thats scalable to different screen sizes without
the children overlapping each other.

You can, however, add multiple children to a FrameLayout and control their position
within the FrameLayout by assigning gravity to each child, using the
android:layout_gravity attribute.
FrameLayout Attributes

Following are the important attributes specific to FrameLayout:
Attribute
Description
android:id
android:foreground
This defines the drawable to draw over the content and

possible values may be a
color value, in the form of #rgb, #argb, #rrggbb,
or #aarrggbb.
Defines the gravity to apply to the foreground drawable.

The gravity defaults to fill.

Possible values are top, bottom, left, right, center,

android:foregroundGravity center_vertical, center_horizontal
etc.
android:measureAllChildren
Determines whether to measure all children or just

those in the VISIBLE or INVISIBLE
state when measuring. Defaults to false.
Example

Android application using frame layout. Follow the following steps to modify the
Step Description
HelloWorld under a


chapter.

few widgets in frame layout.



import


@Override


@Override

menu) {
menu); return true;


<FrameLayout


<ImageView
android:src=@drawable/ic_launcher
android:scaleType=fitCenter
android:layout_height=250px
android:layout_width=250px/>

<TextView
android:text=Frame
Demo
android:textSize=30px
android:textStyle=bold

android:gravity=center/>

</FrameLayout>


> <resources>


</resources>


Emulator window:
List View

Android ListView is a view which groups several items and display them in vertical
scrollable list. The list items are automatically inserted to the list using an Adapter
that pulls content from a source such as an array or database.

An adapter actually bridges between UI components and the data source that fill data
into UI Component. Adapter can be used to supply the data to like spinner, list view,
grid view etc.

The ListView and GridView are subclasses of AdapterView and they can be
populated by binding them to an Adapter, which retrieves data from an external
source and creates a View that represents each data entry. Android provides several
subclasses of Adapter that are useful for retrieving different kinds of data and
building views for an AdapterView ( ie. ListView or GridView). The two most
common adapters areArrayAdapter and SimpleCursorAdapter. We will see separate
examples for both the adapters.
ListView Attributes

Following are the important attributes specific to GridView:
Attribute
Description
android:id
android:divider
This is drawable or color to draw between list items. .
This specifies height of the divider. This could be in
android:dividerHeight
px, dp, sp, in, or mm.
android:entries
Specifies the reference to an array resource that will

populate the ListView.

android:footerDividersEnabled
When set to false, the ListView will not draw the

divider before each footer view.
The default value is true.
android:headerDividersEnabled
When set to false, the ListView will not draw the

divider after each header view.
The default value is true.
ArrayAdapter

You can use this adapter when your data source is an array. By default, ArrayAdapter
creates a view for each array item by calling toString() on each item and placing the
contents in a TextView. Consider you have an array of strings you want to display in
a ListView, initialize a new ArrayAdapter using a constructor to specify the layout
for each string and the string array:

ArrayAdapter adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,
R.layout.ListView,
StringArray);

Here are arguments for this constructor:
First argument this is the application context. Most of the case, keep it this.

Second argument will be layout defined in XML file and having TextView for
each string in the array.

Final argument is an array of strings which will be populated in the text view.

Once you have array adaptor created, then simply call setAdapter() on your ListView
object as follows:

ListView listView = (ListView)
findViewById(R.id.listview); listView.setAdapter(adapter);

You will define your list view under res/layout directory in an XML file. For our
example we are going to using activity_main.xml file.
EXAMPLE

Following is the example which will take you through simple steps to show how to
create your own Android application using ListView. Follow the following steps to
modify the Android application we created in Hello World Example chapter:

Step Description

HelloWorld under a
1 package com.example.helloworld as explained in the Hello World Example

chapter.

2 Modify the detault content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include ListView content with the self
explanatory attributes.
3 Define required constants in res/values/strings.xml file.

4 Create a Text View file res/layout/activity_listview.xml. This file will have setting to display all the
list items. So you can customize its fonts, padding, color etc. using this file.



import

import
android.widget.ArrayAdapter;
import android.widget.ListView;


// Array of strings

String[] countryArray = {India, Pakistan, USA, UK};

@Override


ArrayAdapter adapter = new ArrayAdapter<String>(this,

R.layout.activity_listview, countryArray);

ListView listView = (ListView)
findViewById(R.id.country_list); listView.setAdapter(adapter);
}


<LinearLayout

tools:context=.ListActivity
>

<ListView

android:id=@+id/country_list
> </ListView>

</LinearLayout>


> <resources>


</resources>

Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_listview.xml file:

> <! Single List Item Design >

<TextView
android:id=@+id/label

android:padding=10dip
android:textSize=16dip
android:textStyle=bold >

</TextView>


Emulator window:
SimpleCursorAdapter

You can use this adapter when your data source is a database Cursor. When
usingSimpleCursorAdapter, you must specify a layout to use for each row in the Cursor
and which columns in the Cursor should be inserted into which views of the layout.

For example, if you want to create a list of peoples names and phone numbers, you can
perform a query that returns a Cursor containing a row for each person and columns for
the names and numbers. You then create a string array specifying which columns from
the Cursor you want in the layout for each result and an integer array specifying the
corresponding views that each column should be placed:

String[] fromColumns =
{ContactsContract.Data.DISPLAY_NAME,
ContactsContract.CommonDataKinds.Phone.NUMBER};

int[] toViews = {R.id.display_name, R.id.phone_number};

When you instantiate the SimpleCursorAdapter, pass the layout to use for each result,
the Cursor containing the results, and these two arrays:

SimpleCursorAdapter adapter = new SimpleCursorAdapter(this,
R.layout.person_name_and_number, cursor, fromColumns, toViews,
0);

ListView listView = getListView();
listView.setAdapter(adapter);

The SimpleCursorAdapter then creates a view for each row in the Cursor using the
provided layout by inserting each fromColumns item into the corresponding toViews
view.
GridView

Android GridView shows items in two-dimensional scrolling grid (rows & columns)
and the grid items are not necessarily predetermined but they automatically inserted to
the layout using a ListAdapter

An adapter actually bridges between UI components and the data source that fill data
into UI Component. Adapter can be used to supply the data to like spinner, list view,
grid view etc.

The ListView and GridView are subclasses of AdapterView and they can be populated
by binding them to an Adapter, which retrieves data from an external source and
creates a View that represents each data entry.
GridView Attributes

Following are the important attributes specific to GridView:
Attribute
Description
android:id
android:columnWidth
This specifies the fixed width for each column. This

could be in px, dp, sp, in, or
mm.
android:gravity
Specifies the gravity within each cell. Possible values

are top, bottom, left, right,
center, center_vertical, center_horizontal etc.
android:horizontalSpacing
Defines the default horizontal spacing between

columns. This could be in px, dp, sp,
in, or mm.
Defines how many columns to show. May be an integer

value, such as 100 or

android:numColumns
auto_fit which means display as many columns as

possible to fill the available
space.
Defines how columns should stretch to fill the

available empty space, if any. This
must be either of the values:
none: Stretching is disabled.
android:stretchMode
spacingWidth: The spacing between each column is

stretched.
columnWidth: Each column is stretched equally.
column is uniformly stretched..
Defines the default vertical spacing between rows. This

could be in px, dp, sp, in, or

android:verticalSpacing
spacingWidthUniform: The spacing between each
mm.
Example

Android application using GridView. Follow the following steps to modify the Android
application we created in Hello World Example chapter:

Step Description

HelloWorld under a

chapter.

2 Modify the detault content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include GridView content
with the self explanatory attributes.
3 Define required constants in res/values/strings.xml file.

4 Lets put few pictures in res/drawable-hdpi folder. I have put sample0.jpg, sample1.jpg,
sample2.jpg, sample3.jpg, sample4.jpg, sample5.jpg, sample6.jpg and sample7.jpg.

5 Create a new class called ImageAdapter under a package com.example.helloworld that
extends BaseAdapter. This class will implement functionality of an adaptor to be used to fill the
view.



import
android.widget.GridView;


@Override


GridView gridview = (GridView) findViewById(R.id.gridview);
gridview.setAdapter(new ImageAdapter(this));

@Override

getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu); return true;



<GridView xmlns:android=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android
android:id=@+id/gridview

android:columnWidth=90dp
android:numColumns=auto_fit
android:verticalSpacing=10dp
android:horizontalSpacing=10dp
android:stretchMode=columnWidth
android:gravity=center

/>


<resources>

<string name=app_name>HelloWorld</string> <string

</resources>

Following will be the content of src/com.example.helloworld/ImageAdapter.java file:


import android.content.Context; import
android.view.ViewGroup;

import android.widget.BaseAdapter; import
android.widget.GridView; import
android.widget.ImageView;

public class ImageAdapter extends BaseAdapter { private
Context mContext;

// Constructor

public ImageAdapter(Context c) {
mContext = c;

public int getCount() { return
mThumbIds.length;

public Object getItem(int position) { return null;

public long getItemId(int position) { return 0;

// create a new ImageView for each item referenced by the Adapter public View
getView(int position, View convertView, ViewGroup parent) {

ImageView imageView;

if (convertView == null) { imageView =
new ImageView(mContext);

imageView.setLayoutParams(new GridView.LayoutParams(85, 85));
imageView.setScaleType(ImageView.ScaleType.CENTER_CROP);
imageView.setPadding(8, 8, 8, 8);

} else {

imageView = (ImageView) convertView;

imageView.setImageResource(mThumbIds[position]);
return imageView;

// Keep all Images in array public
Integer[] mThumbIds = {
R.drawable.sample_2, R.drawable.sample_3,










R.drawable.sample_6, R.drawable.sample_7

};


Emulator window:
Sub-Activity Example

Lets extend the functionality of above example where we will show selected grid image
in full screen. To achieve this we need to introduce a new activity. Just keep in mind for
any activity we need perform all the steps like we have to implement an activity class,
define that activity in AndroidManifest.xml file, define related layout and finally link that
sub-activity with the main activity by it in the main activity class. So lets follow the steps
to modify above example:

Step Description

HelloWorld under a

chapter.

2 Create a new Activity class as SingleViewActivity.java under a packagecom.example.helloworld
as shown below.
Create new layout file for the new activity under res/layout/ folder. Lets
3 name this XML file as single_view.xml.

4 Define your new activity in AndroidManifest.xml file using tag. An application can have one or
more activities without any restrictions.



import android.widget.AdapterView;

import
android.widget.AdapterView.OnItemClickListener;
import android.widget.GridView;


@Override


GridView gridview = (GridView)
findViewById(R.id.gridview); gridview.setAdapter(new
ImageAdapter(this));

gridview.setOnItemClickListener(new
OnItemClickListener() { public void

onItemClick(AdapterView<?> parent, View v,

int position, long id) {

// Send intent to SingleViewActivity
Intent i =

new Intent(getApplicationContext(), SingleViewActivity.class);

// Pass image index

i.putExtra(id, position);
startActivity(i);
}

});

@Override

public boolean onCreateOptionsMenu(Menu menu)
{ getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);
return true;

Following will be the content of new activity file
src/com.example.helloworld/SingleViewActivity.javafile:


import android.app.Activity; import
android.widget.ImageView;

public class SingleViewActivity extends Activity {

@Override

public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
setContentView(R.layout.single_view);

// Get intent data Intent i =
getIntent();

// Selected image id

int position = i.getExtras().getInt(id); ImageAdapter
imageAdapter = new ImageAdapter(this);

ImageView imageView = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.SingleView);
imageView.setImageResource(imageAdapter.mThumbIds[position]);

Following will be the content of res/layout/single_view.xml file:


android:layout_width=match_parent android:layout_height=match_parent
<ImageView android:id=@+id/SingleView
android:layout_height=fill_parent/>

</LinearLayout>

Following will be the content of AndroidManifest.xml to define two new constants:


<manifest xmlns:android=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android

android:versionName=1.0 >

<uses-sdk


<application

<activity

android:name=com.example.helloworld.MainActivity

<category
android:name=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER />

</intent-filter>
</activity>

<activity android:name=.SingleViewActivity>
</activity> </application>
</manifest>

Emulator window:

Now if you click on either of the images it will be displayed as a single image, for
example:

Kindly note above mentioned images have been taken from Android official website.
Layout Attributes

Each layout has a set of attributes which define the visual properties of that layout.
There are few common attributes among all the layouts and their are other attributes
which are specific to that layout. Following are common attributes and will be applied
to all the layouts:
Attribute
Description
This is the ID which uniquely identifies the view.
android:id
android:layout_width
This is the width of the layout.
This is the height of the layout
android:layout_height
This is the extra space on the top side of the layout.
android:layout_marginTop
This is the extra space on the bottom side of the

android:layout_marginBottom layout.
This is the extra space on the left side of the layout.
android:layout_marginLeft
This is the extra space on the right side of the layout.
android:layout_marginRight
This specifies how child Views are positioned.
android:layout_gravity
This specifies how much of the extra space in the
layout should be allocated to
android:layout_weight

android:layout_x
This specifies the x-coordinate of the layout.
android:layout_y
This specifies the y-coordinate of the layout.
android:paddingLeft
This is the left padding filled for the layout.
android:paddingRight
This is the right padding filled for the layout.
android:paddingTop
This is the top padding filled for the layout.
android:paddingBottom
This is the bottom padding filled for the layout.
the View.
Here width and height are the dimension of the layout/view which can be specified
in terms of dp (Density-independent Pixels), sp ( Scale-independent Pixels), pt (
Points which is 1/72 of an inch), px( Pixels), mm ( Millimeters) and finally in
(inches).

You can specify width and height with exact measurements but more often, you will
use one of these constants to set the width or height:

android:layout_width=wrap_content tells your view to size itself to the
dimensions required by its content.

android:layout_width=fill_parent tells your view to become as big as its parent
view.

Gravity attribute plays important role in positioning the view object and it can take
one or more (separated by |) of the following constant values.
Constant
Value Description
top
0x30
Push object to the top of its container, not changing its

size.
bottom
0x50
Push object to the bottom of its container, not changing

its size.

left
0x03
Push object to the left of its container, not changing its

size.
Push object to the right of its container, not changing its
right
0x05
size.
center_vertical
0x10
Place object in the vertical center of its container, not

changing its size.
fill_vertical
0x70
Grow the vertical size of the object if needed so it

completely fills its container.
center_horizontal 0x01
Place object in the horizontal center of its container, not

changing its size.

fill_horizontal 0x07
Grow the horizontal size of the object if needed so it

completely fills its container.

center
0x11
Place the object in the center of its container in both

the vertical and horizontal axis,
not changing its size.
fill
0x77
Grow the horizontal and vertical size of the object if

needed so it completely fills its
container.
and/or bottom edges of the child
clipped to its containers bounds. The clip will be

based on the vertical gravity: a top
gravity will clip the bottom edge, a bottom gravity
will clip the top edge, and neither
clip_vertical
0x80
Additional option that can be set to have the top
will clip both edges.
Additional option that can be set to have the left

and/or right edges of the child
clipped to its containers bounds. The clip will be

based on the horizontal gravity: a
left gravity will clip the right edge, a right gravity will
clip the left edge, and neither will
clip_horizontal
0x08
clip both edges.
start
0x00800003
Push object to the beginning of its container, not

changing its size.
end
0x00800005
Push object to the end of its container, not changing

its size.
View Identification

A view object may have a unique ID assigned to it which will identify the View
uniquely within the tree. The syntax for an ID, inside an XML tag is:

android:id=@+id/my_button

Following is a brief description of @ and + signs:

The at-symbol (@) at the beginning of the string indicates that the XML
parser should parse and expand the rest of the ID string and identify it as an ID
resource.

The plus-symbol (+) means that this is a new resource name that must be
created and added to our resources. To create an instance of the view object and
capture it from the layout, use the following:

Button myButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.my_button);
CHAPTER
14

UI Controls

n Android application user interface is everything that the user can see and
interact with. You have

learned about the various layouts that you can use to position your views in an activity.
This chapter will give you detail on various views.

A View is an object that draws something on the screen that the user can interact with and
aViewGroup is an object that holds other View (and ViewGroup) objects in order to
define the layout of the user interface.

You define your layout in an XML file which offers a human-readable structure for the
layout, similar to HTML. For example, a simple vertical layout with a text view and a
button looks like this:


<LinearLayout


android:text=I am a TextView />

android:text=I am a Button />

</LinearLayout>
Android UI Controls

There are number of UI controls provided by Android that allow you to build the
graphical user interface for your app.

S.N. UI Control & Description
1 TextView

This control is used to display text to the user.
2 EditText

EditText is a predefined subclass of TextView that includes rich editing capabilities.
3 AutoCompleteTextView

The AutoCompleteTextView is a view that is similar to EditText, except that it
shows a list of completion
suggestions automatically while the user is typing.
Button
A push-button that can be pressed, or clicked, by the user to perform

an action.
ImageButton
AbsoluteLayout enables you to specify the exact location of its

children.
CheckBox
An on/off switch that can be toggled by the user. You should use
checkboxes when presenting users with a
group of selectable options that are not mutually exclusive.
ToggleButton
An on/off button with a light indicator.

RadioButton
The RadioButton has two states: either checked or unchecked.
RadioGroup
A RadioGroup is used to group together one or more RadioButtons.
ProgressBar
The ProgressBar view provides visual feedback about some ongoing

10 tasks, such as when you are

performing a task in the background.

11 Spinner

A drop-down list that allows users to select one value from a set.
12 TimePicker

The TimePicker view enables users to select a time of the day, in either 24-hour
mode or AM/PM mode.
13 DatePicker

The DatePicker view enables users to select a date of the day.
TextView

A TextView displays text to the user and optionally allows them to edit it.
A TextView is a complete text editor, however the basic class is
configured to not allow editing.
TextView Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to TextView control. You can check
Android official documentation for complete list of attributes and related methods
which you can use to change these attributes are run time.
Attribute
Description
android:id
This is the ID which uniquely identifies the control.

If set, specifies that this TextView has a textual input method
and should automatically capitalize what the user types.

Dont automatically capitalize anything - 0

android:capitalize
Capitalize the first word of each sentence - 1

Capitalize the first letter of every word - 2
Capitalize every character - 3
android:cursorVisible
Makes the cursor visible (the default) or invisible. Default

is false.

android:editable
If set to true, specifies that this TextView has an input

method.
android:fontFamily
Font family (named by string) for the text.
android:gravity
Specifies how to align the text by the views x- and/or yaxis when the text is smaller than
the view.
android:hint
Hint text to display when the text is empty.
android:inputType
The type of data being placed in a text field. Phone, Date,

Time, Number, Password etc.

android:maxHeight
Makes the TextView be at most this many pixels tall.
android:maxWidth
Makes the TextView be at most this many pixels wide.
android:minHeight
Makes the TextView be at least this many pixels tall.
android:minWidth
Makes the TextView be at least this many pixels wide.
android:password
Whether the characters of the field are displayed as

password dots instead of
themselves. Possible value either true or false.
android:phoneNumber
If set, specifies that this TextView has a phone number

input method. Possible value
either true or false.
android:text
Text to display.
android:textAllCaps
Present the text in ALL CAPS. Possible value either

true or false.
android:textColor
Text color. May be a color value, in the form of #rgb,

#argb, #rrggbb, or
#aarrggbb.
android:textColorHighlight Color of the text selection highlight.
android:textColorHint
Color of the hint text. May be a color value, in the form of

#rgb, #argb, #rrggbb, or
#aarrggbb.
android:textIsSelectable
Indicates that the content of a non-editable text can be

selected. Possible value either
true or false.
android:textSize
Size of the text. Recommended dimension type for text is

sp for scaled-pixels
(example: 15sp).
Style (bold, italic, bolditalic) for the text. You can use or
more of the following values
separated by |.
normal - 0
android:textStyle
bold - 1
italic - 2
android:typeface
Typeface (normal, sans, serif, monospace) for the text.

You can use or more of the
following values separated by |.

normal - 0

sans - 1

serif - 2

monospace 3
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and TextView.
Step Description
GUIDemo under a

package com.example.guidemo as explained in the Hello World Example

chapter.
Modify src/MainActivity.java file to add a click event.

Android UI control.

Following is the content of the modified main activity file
src/com.example.guidemo/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of the

package com.example.guidemo;

import
android.widget.TextView;


@Override

// text view

TextView txtView = (TextView)
findViewById(R.id.text_id); final String Label =
txtView.getText().toString();

txtView.setOnClickListener(new
View.OnClickListener() { public void onClick(View
v) {

Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),
You have clicked the Label : +
Label, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}

});

@Override

true;


android:paddingBottom=@dimen/activity_vertical_margin
android:paddingLeft=@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin
android:paddingRight=@dimen/activity_horizontal_margin
android:paddingTop=@dimen/activity_vertical_margin
tools:context=.MainActivity >

<TextView
android:id=@+id/text_id

android:capitalize=characters
android:text=@string/hello_world />

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>

<string name=app_name>GUIDemo</string>


</resources>



package=com.example.guidemo


<uses-sdk android:minSdkVersion=8

<application android:allowBackup=true
<activity

android:name=com.example.guidemo.MainActivity
android:label=@string/app_name > <intentfilter>

<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Lets try to run your GUIDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD while
doing environment setup. To

run the app from Eclipse, open one of your projects activity files and click Run icon

Now lets click on the Lable Hello World, it will give following screen:

Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of TextView in
Layout XML file as well at programming time to have different look and feel of the
TextView. Try to make it editable, change to font color, font family, width, textSize
etc and see the result. You can also try above example with multiple TextView
controls in one acitivity.
EditText

A EditText is an overlay over TextView that configures itself to be
editable. It is the predefined subclass of TextView that includes rich
editing capabilities.

EditText Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to EditText control. You can check

Inherited from android.widget.TextView Class:
Description
Attribute
android:autoText
If set, specifies that this TextView has a textual input

method and automatically corrects
some common spelling errors.
android:drawableBottom This is the drawable to be drawn below the text.
android:drawableRight This is the drawable to be drawn to the right of the text.
android:editable
If set, specifies that this TextView has an input method.
android:text
This is the Text to display.

Inherited from android.view.View Class:
Attribute
Description
android:background
This is a drawable to use as the background.
This defines text that briefly describes content of the

android:contentDescription view.
android:id
This supplies an identifier name for this view,
android:onClick
This is the name of the method in this Views context to

invoke when the view is
clicked.
android:visibility
This controls the initial visibility of the view.
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and EditText.
Step Description
GUIDemo2 under a

package com.example.guidemo2 as explained in the Hello World Example

chapter.

Android UI control.
changes done in the application.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity
filesrc/com.example.guidemo2/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of the
package com.example.guidemo2;

import

import
android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.widget.Button;

import
android.widget.EditText;


@Override


final EditText eText;
final Button btn;

eText = (EditText)
findViewById(R.id.edittext); btn = (Button)
findViewById(R.id.button);

btn.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

public void onClick(View v) {

String str = eText.getText().toString();

Toast msg = Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(),str,
Toast.LENGTH_LONG);

msg.show();
msg.show();
}

});

@Override


// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is
present. getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

return true;


<TextView
android:id=@+id/textView1

android:layout_alignParentTop=true
android:layout_marginLeft=14dp
android:layout_marginTop=18dp
android:text=@string/example_edittext />

<Button
android:id=@+id/button

android:layout_alignLeft=@+id/textView1
android:layout_below=@+id/textView1
android:text=@string/show_the_text />

<EditText
android:id=@+id/edittext

android:layout_alignLeft=@+id/button
android:ems=10
android:text=@string/enter_text android:inputType=text />

</RelativeLayout>

Following will be the content of res/values/strings.xml to define these new constants:

> <resources>

<string name=app_name>GUIDemo1</string>

<string name=example_edittext>Example showing
EditText</string> <string name=show_the_text>Show the
Text</string>

<string name=enter_text>text
changes</string> </resources>



<manifest
package=com.example.guidemo2

>

<uses-sdk

<application
<activity

android:name=com.example.guidemo2.MainActivity


<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Lets try to run your GUIDemo2 application. I assume you had created your AVD while


Now lets click on the Button Show the Text, it will give following screen:

Now lets change the text to tutorialspoint website. Click on the Button Show the
Text, it will give following screen:
Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of EditText in
EditText. Try to make it editable, change to font color, font family, width, textSize
etc and see the result. You can also try above example with multiple EditText
controls in one activity.
AutoCompleteTextView

A AutoCompleteTextView is a view that is similar to EditText, except that it shows a
list of completion suggestions automatically while the user is typing. The list of
suggestions is displayed in drop down menu. The user can choose an item from there
to replace the content of edit box with.
AutoCompleteTextView Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to AutoCompleteTextView control.
You can check Android official documentation for complete list of attributes and
related methods which you can use to change these attributes are run time.
Attribute
Description
android:completionHint
This defines the hint displayed in the drop down

menu.
android:completionHintView
This defines the hint view displayed in the drop

down menu.
android:completionThreshold
This defines the number of characters that the

user must type before
completion suggestions are displayed in a drop
android:dropDownAnchor
This is the View to anchor the auto-complete

dropdown to.
android:dropDownHeight
This specifies the basic height of the dropdown.
down menu.
The amount of pixels by which the drop down

android:dropDownHorizontalOffset should be offset horizontally.
android:dropDownSelector
This is the selector in a drop down list.
android:dropDownVerticalOffset
The amount of pixels by which the drop down

should be offset vertically.
android:dropDownWidth This specifies the basic width of the dropdown.
android:popupBackground This sets the background.
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and AutoCompleteTextView.
Step Description
GUIDemo3 under a


chapter.

Android UI control.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity


import
import android.widget.ArrayAdapter;

import android.widget.AutoCompleteTextView;


AutoCompleteTextView autocompletetextview;

String[] arr = { MS SQL SERVER, MySQL, Oracle };
@Override


autocompletetextview =
(AutoCompleteTextView)
findViewById(R.id.autoCompleteTextView1);

ArrayAdapter adapter = new ArrayAdapter
(this,android.R.layout.select_dialog_item, arr);

autocompletetextview.setThreshold(1);
autocompletetextview.setAdapter(adapter);
}

@Override


/* Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it
is present */

menu); return true;



<TextView

android:layout_alignParentTop=true
android:layout_centerHorizontal=true
android:text=@string/example_autocompletetextview /
>

<AutoCompleteTextView
android:id=@+id/autoCompleteTextView1
android:ems=10 />

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>

<string name=app_name>GUIDemo3</string> <string

<string name=example_autocompletetextview>Example
showing AutoCompleteTextView</string>

</resources>






<application
<activity



<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>



The following screen will appear after m will be typed in AutoCompleteTextView:
Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of
AutoCompleteTextView in Layout XML file as well at programming time to have
different look and feel of the AutoCompleteTextView. Try to make it editable,
change to font color, font family, width, textSize etc and see the result. You can also
try above example with multiple AutoCompleteTextView controls in one activity.
Button

A Button is a Push-button which can be pressed, or clicked, by the user to
perform an action.

Button Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to Button control. You can check

Description
Attribute
android:autoText

This is the drawable to be drawn to the right of the text.
android:drawableRight
android:editable
android:text
Attribute
Description
android:background This is a drawable to use as the background.

android:id
android:onClick

clicked.
android:visibility
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and Button.
Step Description
GUIDemo4 under a

chapter.

Android UI control.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity
filesrc/com.example.guidemo4/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of


import

import

import
android.widget.EditText;


private EditText
edText1,edText2,edText3; private Button
btnProduct;

@Override

addListenerOnButton();
}

private void addListenerOnButton() {

edText1 =
(EditText)findViewById(R.id.edittext); edText2
= (EditText)findViewById(R.id.edittext2);
edText3 =
(EditText)findViewById(R.id.edittext3);

btnProduct = (Button)findViewById(R.id.button1);

btnProduct.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

@Override
String t1 = edText1.getText().toString();



int i1 = Integer.parseInt(t1); int i2 =
Integer.parseInt(t2); int i3 =
Integer.parseInt(t3);

int product = i1*i2*i3;
Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(),
String.valueOf(product),Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();

});

@Override


/* Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is
present */ getMenuInflater().inflate(R.menu.main, menu);

return true;



<TextView

android:text=@string/example_button />

<EditText
android:id=@+id/edittext

android:layout_alignLeft=@+id/button1
android:ems=10 android:inputType=text
android:text=@string/enter_text1 />

<EditText
android:id=@+id/edittext2


android:layout_alignLeft=@+id/edittext3
android:layout_below=@+id/edittext

<EditText
android:id=@+id/edittext3

android:layout_alignLeft=@+id/edittext
android:layout_below=@+id/edittext2

<Button
android:id=@+id/button1

android:layout_below=@+id/edittext3
android:text=@string/click_button />

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>

name=example_button>Example showing Button</string>

<string
name=enter_text1/>
<string
name=enter_text2/>
<string name=enter_text3/>

<string name=click_button>Calculate product of 3
numbers</string>

</resources>







> <activity



<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>



The following screen will appear after values are entered in 3 EditText and then the
product is calculated by clicking on Button:
Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of Button in Layout
XML file as well at programming time to have different look and feel of the Button.
Try to make it editable, change to font color, font family, width, textSize etc and see
the result. You can also try above example with multiple Button controls in one
activity.
ImageButton

A ImageButton is a AbsoluteLayout which enables you to specify the exact location
of its children. This shows a button with an image (instead of text) that can be
pressed or clicked by the user.
ImageButton Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to ImageButton control. You can check

Inherited from android.widget.ImageView Class:
Attribute
Description
android:baseline
This is the offset of the baseline within this view.
android:adjustViewBounds
Set this to true if you want the ImageView to adjust

its bounds to preserve the aspect
ratio of its drawable.
android:baselineAlignBottom
If true, the image view will be baseline aligned with

based on its bottom edge.
android:cropToPadding
If true, the image will be cropped to fit within its

padding.
android:src
This sets a drawable as the content of this

ImageView.
Attribute
Description
android:background

android:id
android:onClick

clicked.
android:visibility
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and ImageButton.
Step Description
GUIDemo5 under a


chapter.
Modify the default content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file to include

Android UI control.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity


import

import
import android.widget.ImageButton;



ImageButton imgButton;

@Override


addListenerOnButton();

private void addListenerOnButton() {

imgButton = (ImageButton)
findViewById (R.id.imageButton1);

imgButton.setOnClickListener(new
OnClickListener() { @Override

Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,ImageButton
Clicked : tutorialspoint.com,

});

@Override



return true;



<TextView

android:text=@string/example_imagebutton />

<ImageButton
android:id=@+id/imageButton1

android:layout_alignRight=@+id/textView1
android:layout_marginRight=35dp
android:contentDescription=
@string/android_launcher_image
android:src=@drawable/ic_launcher />

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>


<string name=example_imagebutton>Example showing ImageButton</string>
<string name=android_launcher_image></string>

</resources>



<manifest

>

<uses-sdk

<application
<activity



<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>



The following screen will appear after ImageButton is clicked:
Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of ImageButton in
ImageButton. Try to make it editable, change to font color, font family, width,
textSize etc and see the result. You can also try above example with multiple
ImageButton controls in one activity.
CheckBox

A CheckBox is an on/off switch that can be toggled by the user. You should use
check-boxes when presenting users with a group of selectable options that are not
mutually exclusive.
CheckBox Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to CheckBox control. You can check

Attribute
Description
android:autoText

android:editable
android:text
Attribute
Description
android:background

android:id
android:onClick

clicked.
android:visibility
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and CheckBox.
Step Description
GUIDemo6 under a


chapter.

Android UI control.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity


import

import
import android.widget.CheckBox;



private CheckBox chk1, chk2, chk3;

@Override


// 3 methods
addListenerOnCheck1();

// method for CheckBox1 - Java
private void
addListenerOnCheck1() {

chk1 = (CheckBox)
findViewById(R.id.checkBox1); chk2 =
(CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.checkBox2);

chk3 = (CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.checkBox3);
chk2.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

@Override


StringBuffer result = new
result.append(Java
Selection
(chk1.isChecked());
StringBuffer();
:
).append

result.append(\nPerl Selection : ).append
(chk2.isChecked());

result.append(\nPython Selection :).append
(chk3.isChecked());

Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, result.toString(),

});

// method for CheckBox2 - Perl private void
addListenerOnCheck2() {
chk1 = (CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.checkBox1); chk2 =

(CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.checkBox2); chk3 =
(CheckBox)
findViewById(R.id.checkBox3);

@Override


StringBuffer result = new
result.append(Java
Selection
(chk1.isChecked());
StringBuffer();
:
).append

result.append(\nPerl Selection : ).append
(chk2.isChecked());

result.append(\nPython Selection :).append
(chk3.isChecked());

Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, result.toString
(),Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
}

});
}

/* method for CheckBox3 - Python */ private
void addListenerOnCheck3() {

// TODO Auto-generated method stub

chk1 = (CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.checkBox1); chk2 =
(CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.checkBox2); chk3 =
(CheckBox) findViewById(R.id.checkBox3);


@Override

StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer();
result.append(Java Selection :

).append(chk1.isChecked());

result.append(\nPerl
Selection : ).append(chk2.isChecked());

result.append(\nPython
Selection :).append(chk3.isChecked());



});

@Override


// Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present.
return true;
}



<TextView

android:text=@string/example_checkbox />

<CheckBox
android:id=@+id/checkBox1

android:text=@string/check_one />

<CheckBox

android:layout_alignLeft=@+id/checkBox1
android:layout_below=@+id/checkBox1
android:text=@string/check_two />

<CheckBox

android:layout_below=@+id/checkBox2
android:text=@string/check_three />

<TextView

android:layout_alignLeft=@+id/checkBox1
android:text=@string/example_question />

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>


<string name=example_checkbox>Example showing CheckBox Control</string>
<string name=check_one>JAVA</string>

<string name=check_two>PERL</string>
<string
name=check_three>PYTHON</string>

<string name=example_question>Worked on following Languages-</string>
</resources>





<uses-sdk

<activity



<category android:name=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER />
</intent-filter>
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>



The following screen will appear after CheckBox1 i.e Java is clicked:
The following screen will appear after CheckBox3 i.e Python is clicked, now it will
appear for both Java(previous selection) and Perl:
Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of CheckBox in
CheckBox. Try to make it editable, change to font color, font family, width, textSize
etc and see the result. You can also try above example with multiple CheckBox
controls in one activity.
ToggleButton

A ToggleButton displays checked/unchecked states as a button. It is basically an
on/off button with a light indicator.
ToggleButton Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to ToggleButton control. You can
check Android official documentation for complete list of attributes and related
methods which you can use to change these attributes are run time.
Description
Attribute
android:disabledAlpha This is the alpha to apply to the indicator when disabled.
This is the text for the button when it is not checked.
This is the text for the button when it is checked.
android:textOff
android:textOn
Attribute
Description
android:autoText

android:drawableRight This is the drawable to be drawn to the right of the text.
android:editable
android:text
Attribute
Description
android:background

android:id
android:onClick
This is the name of the method in this Views context

to invoke when the view is
clicked.
android:visibility
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and ToggleButton.
Step Description
GUIDemo7 under a


chapter.

Android UI control.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity


import

import

import
android.widget.ToggleButton;


private ToggleButton toggleBtn1,
toggleBtn2; private Button btResult;

@Override


addListenerOnToggleButton();

private void addListenerOnToggleButton() {

toggleBtn1 = (ToggleButton) findViewById
(R.id.toggleButton1);

toggleBtn2 = (ToggleButton) findViewById
(R.id.toggleButton2);

btResult = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);
btResult.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

@Override


StringBuffer result = new StringBuffer();
result.append(START Condition - ).append
(toggleBtn1.getText()); result.append(\nSTOP
Condition - ).append (toggleBtn2.getText());

});

@Override


present */

true;
}



<TextView

android:text=@string/example_togglebutton />

<ToggleButton android:id=@+id/toggleButton1
android:layout_marginTop=24dp />

<Button

android:layout_below=@+id/toggleButton1
android:layout_marginLeft=19dp
android:layout_toRightOf=@+id/toggleButton1
android:text=@string/example_result />

<ToggleButton
android:id=@+id/toggleButton2

android:layout_alignTop=@+id/toggleButton1
android:layout_toRightOf=@+id/textView1
android:textOff=@string/stop_togglebutton
android:textOn=@string/start_togglebutton
android:checked=true/>

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>


<string name=example_togglebutton>Example showing
ToggleButton</string>
<string name=start_togglebutton>START</string>
<string name=stop_togglebutton>STOP</string>
<string name=example_result>Click Me</string>

</resources>





<uses-sdk

<activity



</intent-filter>

</activity>

</application>

</manifest>



The following screen will appear:

The following screen will appear, conditions are shown when state of both the toggle
buttons are changed:

The following screen will appear, conditions are shown when state of 2nd toggle button
is changed to START:
Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of ToggleButton in
ToggleButton. Try to make it editable, change to font color, font family, width,
ToggleButton controls in one activity.
RadioButton

A RadioButton has two states: either checked or unchecked.This allows the user to select
one option from a set.
RadioButton Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to RadioButton control. You can check

Attribute
Description
android:autoText

android:editable
android:text
Description
Attribute
android:background This is a drawable to use as the background.

android:id
android:onClick

clicked.
android:visibility
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and RadioButton.
Step Description
GUIDemo8 under a

chapter.

Android UI control.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity


import

import

import
android.widget.RadioButton;
import
android.widget.RadioGroup;


private RadioGroup
radioGroupWebsite; private
RadioButton radioBtn1; private
Button btnWebsiteName;

@Override


addListenerRadioButton();

private void addListenerRadioButton() {

radioGroupWebsite = (RadioGroup) findViewById

(R.id.radioGroup1);

btnWebsiteName = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);

btnWebsiteName.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

@Override


// get selected radio button from radioGroupWebsite int
selected = radioGroupWebsite.getCheckedRadioButtonId();
radioBtn1 = (RadioButton) findViewById(selected);
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, radioBtn1.getText(),

});

@Override


return true;



<TextView

android:text=@string/example_radiobutton />

<Button

android:layout_centerVertical=true
android:text=@string/website_name />

<RadioGroup
android:id=@+id/radioGroup1

android:layout_marginTop=30dp >

<RadioButton
android:id=@+id/radio0

android:checked=true
android:text=@string/website_radio0 />

<RadioButton


<RadioButton

</RadioGroup>

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>


<string name=example_radiobutton>Example showing RadioButton</string>
<string name=website_name>Website URL</string>

<string name=website_radio0>www.tutorialspoint.com</string>
<string name=website_radio1>www.compileonline.com</string>
<string name=website_radio2>www.photofuntoos.com</string>

</resources>






<activity


<category
</activity>
</application>

</manifest>



It checks the 2nd radiobutton and text www.compileonline.com is shown when Button
is clicked:

The following screen will appear when 3rd radiobutton is checked and text
www.photofuntoos.com is shown when Button is clicked::
Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of RadioButton in
RadioButton. Try to make it editable, change to font color, font family, width,
RadioButton controls in one activity.
RadioGroup

A RadioGroup class is used for set of radio buttons. If we check one radio button that
belongs to a radio group, it automatically unchecks any previously checked radio
button within the same group.
RadioGroup Attributes

Following are the important attributes related to RadioGroup control. You can check
Attribute
Description
android:checkedButton
This is the id of child radio button that should be checked

by default within this radio group.

Attribute
Description
android:background
android:contentDescription

view.
android:id

android:onClick
clicked.
android:visibility
Example

Android application using Linear Layout and RadioGroup.
Step Description
GUIDemo9 under a
chapter.

Android UI control.

Following
is
the
content
of
the
modified
main
activity


import android.os.Bundle; import
android.view.View;

import android.view.View.OnClickListener; import

import android.widget.RadioButton; import
android.widget.RadioGroup;
import
android.widget.Toast;


private RadioGroup radioGroupCricket; private
RadioGroup radioGroupTutorials; private RadioButton
radioBtn1;

private RadioButton radioBtn2; private Button
btnCricketer; private Button
btnTutorialsPoint;

@Override


// group1
addListenerRadioGroup1();

// group2
addListenerRadioGroup2();
}

private void addListenerRadioGroup2() { radioGroupTutorials =
(RadioGroup) findViewById (R.id.radioGroup2);

btnTutorialsPoint = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button2);
btnTutorialsPoint.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

@Override


// get selected radio button from radioGroupTutorials int selected =
radioGroupTutorials.getCheckedRadioButtonId(); radioBtn2 =
(RadioButton) findViewById(selected);
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, radioBtn2.getText(),

});

private void addListenerRadioGroup1() {

radioGroupCricket = (RadioGroup) findViewById
(R.id.radioGroup1);

btnCricketer = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button1);
btnCricketer.setOnClickListener(new OnClickListener() {

@Override


// get selected radio button from radioGroupCricket

int selected = radioGroupCricket.getCheckedRadioButtonId();
radioBtn1 = (RadioButton) findViewById(selected);
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this,
radioBtn1.getText(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();

});

@Override


/* Inflate the menu; this adds items to the action bar if it is present */

true;
}



<TextView

android:text=@string/example_radiogroup />

<RadioGroup
android:layout_marginTop=24dp >

<RadioButton
android:id=@+id/radioGroupButton0
android:text=@string/example_radiogroup1button0 />

<RadioButton

<RadioButton

</RadioGroup>

<RadioGroup

android:layout_alignParentRight=true
android:layout_alignTop=@+id/radioGroup1
android:layout_marginRight=15dp >

<RadioButton
android:id=@+id/radioGroup2Button0

<RadioButton

<RadioButton

</RadioGroup>

<Button

android:layout_below=@+id/radioGroup1
android:text=@string/group_button1 />

<Button

android:layout_alignBaseline=@+id/button1
android:layout_alignBottom=@+id/button1
android:layout_alignParentRight=true
android:layout_marginRight=14dp
android:text=@string/group_button2 />

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>


<string name=example_radiogroup>Example showing RadioGroup</string>
<string name=example_radiogroup1button0>Sachin</string>

<string name=example_radiogroup1button1>Saurav</string>
<string name=example_radiogroup1button2>Rahul</string>

<string name=example_radiogroup2button0>MySQL Tutorial</string>
<string name=example_radiogroup2button1>SQL Tutorial</string>

<string name=example_radiogroup2button2>SQLite
Tutorial</string> <string name=group_button1>cricketer</string>
<string name=group_button2>tutorialspoint</string>

</resources>



<manifest

>

<uses-sdk

<application
<activity

android:label=@string/app_name > <intent-
filter>


<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>



The following screen will appear, here we have 2 RadioGroups i.e. radioGroupCricket and
radioGroupTutorials. The cricketer Button is clicked after checking Rahul Radio
Button:

The following screen will appear if we check one radio button that belongs to
radioGroupTutorials radio group, it automatically unchecks any previously checked radio
button within the same radioGroupTutorials group. The tutorialspoint Button is clicked
after checking SQL Tutorial Radio Button:
Exercise:

I will recommend to try above example with different attributes of RadioButton in Layout
XML file as well at programming time to have different look and feel of the RadioButton.
Try to make it editable, change to font color, font family, width, textSize etc and see the
result. You can also try above example with multiple RadioButton controls in one activity.
Create UI Controls

As explained in previous chapter, a view object may have a unique ID assigned to it which
will identify the View uniquely within the tree. The syntax for an ID, inside an XML tag
is:


To create a UI Control/View/Widget you will have to define a view/widget in the layout
file and assign it a unique ID as follows:


<LinearLayout


<TextView android:id=@+id/text_id
android:text=I am a TextView />

</LinearLayout>

Then finally create an instance of the Control object and capture it from the layout, use the
following:

TextView myText = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.text_id);
CHAPTER
15

Event Handling

vents are a useful way to collect data about a users interaction with interactive
components of your app,

like button presses or screen touch etc. The Android framework maintains an event
queue into which events are placed as they occur and then each event is removed
from the queue on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis. You can capture these events in
your program and take appropriate action as per requirements.

There are following three concepts related to Android Event Management:

Event Listeners: The View class is mainly involved in building up a
Android GUI, same View class provides a number of Event Listeners. The
Event Listener is the object that receives notification when an event happes.

Event Listeners Registration: Event Registration is the process by which
an Event Handler gets registered with an Event Listener so that the handler is
called when the Event Listener fires the event.

Event Handlers: When an event happens and we have registered and event
listener fo the event, the event listener calls the Event Handlers, which is the
method that actually handles the event.
Event Listeners & Event Handlers

Event Handler Event Listener & Description
OnClickListener()
onClick()
This is called when the user either clicks or touches or focuses

upon any widget like button, text,
image etc. You will use onClick() event handler to handle such
event.
OnLongClickListener()
This is called when the user either clicks or touches or focuses

upon any widget like button, text,
onLongClick()
image etc. for one or more seconds. You will use onLongClick()
event handler to handle such
event.
OnFocusChangeListener()
This is called when the widget looses its focus ie. user goes
onFocusChange() away from the view item. You will
use onFocusChange() event handler to handle such event.
OnFocusChangeListener()
onKey()
This is called when the user is focused on the item and presses
or releases a hardware key on
the device. You will use onKey() event handler to handle such
event.
OnTouchListener()
onTouch()
This is called when the user presses the key, releases the key, or
any movement gesture on the

screen. You will use onTouch() event handler to handle such

event.

OnMenuItemClickListener()
onMenuItemClick() This is called when the user selects a menu item. You will use
onMenuItemClick() event handler

to handle such event.

There are many more event listeners available as a part of View class like
OnHoverListener, OnDragListener etc which may be needed for your application. So
I recommend to refer official documentation for Android application development in
case you are going to develop a sophisticated apps.
Event Listeners Registration:

Event Registration is the process by which an Event Handler gets registered with an
Event Listener so that the handler is called when the Event Listener fires the event.
Though there are several tricky ways to register your event listener for any event, but
Im going to list down only top 3 ways, out of which you can use any of them based
on the situation.

Using an Anonymous Inner Class

Activity class implements the Listener interface.

Using Layout file activity_main.xml to specify
event handler directly. Below section will provide you
detailed examples on all the three scenarios:
Event Handling Examples
EVENT LISTENERS REGISTRATION USING AN

ANONYMOUS INNER CLASS

Here you will create an anonymous implementation of the listener and will be useful
if each class is applied to a single control only and you have advantage to pass
arguments to event handler. In this approach event handler methods can access
private data of Activity. No reference is needed to call to Activity.

But if you applied the handler to more than one control, you would have to cut and
paste the code for the handler and if the code for the handler is long, it makes the
code harder to maintain.

Following are the simple steps to show how we will make use of separate Listener
class to register and capture click event. Similar way you can implement your
listener for any other required event type.
Step Description
EventDemo under a

package com.example.eventdemo as explained in the Hello World Example

chapter.
Modify src/MainActivity.java file to add click event listeners and handlers

for the two buttons defined.
Android UI controls.


filesrc/com.example.eventdemo/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of

package com.example.eventdemo;


import android.app.Activity; import
android.widget.Button; import


@Override


// find both the buttons

Button sButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button_s); Button
lButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button_l);

// register click event with first button

sButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

// find the text view

TextView txtView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.text_id); //
change text size
txtView.setTextSize(14);

});

// register click event with second button
lButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {


TextView txtView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.text_id); //
change text size


});

@Override

true;




<Button
android:id=@+id/button_s

android:text=@string/button_small/>

<Button
android:id=@+id/button_l

android:text=@string/button_large/>

<TextView

</LinearLayout>


> <resources>

<string name=app_name>EventDemo</string>
</string>

<string name=button_small>Small
Font</string> <string
name=button_large>Large Font</string>

</resources>



<manifest

>

<uses-sdk

<application
<activity



<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Lets try to run your EventDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD while
files and click Run icon from the toolbar. Eclipse

installs the app on your AVD and starts it and if everything is fine with your setup
and application, it will display following Emulator window:

Now you try to click on two buttons one by one and you will see that font of the
Hello World text will change, which happens because registered click event handler
method is being called against each click event.
REGISTRATION USING THE ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTS
LISTENER INTERFACE

Here your Activity class implements the Listener interface and you put the handler
method in the main Activity and then you call setOnClickListener(this).

This approach is fine if your application has only a single control of that Listener
type otherwise you will have to do further programming to check which control has
generated event. Second you cannot pass arguments to the Listener so, again, works
poorly for multiple controls.

Following are the simple steps to show how we will implement Listener class to
register and capture click event. Similar way you can implement your listener for
any other required event type.
Step Description
We do not need to create this application from scratch, so lets make use of
above created Android

application EventDemo.

We are not making any change in res/layout/activity_main.xml, it will

remain as shown above.
We are also not making any change in res/values/strings.xml file, it will

also remain as shown above.




import
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;

import

public class MainActivity extends Activity implements OnClickListener {

@Override



Button sButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button_s);

Button lButton = (Button) findViewById(R.id.button_l);

sButton.setOnClickListener(this);
lButton.setOnClickListener(this);
}

// Implement the OnClickListener callback
if(v.getId() == R.id.button_s)


findViewById(R.id.text_id); // change text size

return;

if(v.getId() == R.id.button_l)



return;

@Override

menu); return true;

Now again lets try to run your EventDemo application. I assume you had created
your AVD while doing

environment setup. To run the app from Eclipse, open one of your projects activity files
and click Run icon from the toolbar. Eclipse installs the app on your AVD and starts it
and if everything is fine with your setup and application, it will display following
Emulator window:

Now you try to click on two buttons one by one and you will see that font of the
Hello World text will change, which happens because registered click event handler
method is being called against each click event.
REGISTRATION USING LAYOUT FILE

ACTIVITY_MAIN.XML

Here you put your event handlers in Activity class without implementing a Listener
interface or call to any listener method. Rather you will use the layout file
(activity_main.xml) to specify the handler method via the android:onClick attribute
for click event. You can control click events differently for different control by
passing different event handler methods.

The event handler method must have a void return type and take a View as an
argument. However, the method name is arbitrary, and the main class need not
implement any particular interface.

This approach does not allow you to pass arguments to Listener and for the Android
developers it will be difficult to know which method is the handler for which control
until they look into activity_main.xml file. Second, you can not handle any other
event except click event using this approach.

Following are the simple steps to show how we can make use of layout file
Main.xml to register and capture click event.
Step Description
We do not need to create this application from scratch, so lets make use of
above created Android
application EventDemo.


Modify layout file res/layout/activity_main.xml, to specify event handlers

for the two buttons.

We are also not making any change in res/values/strings.xml file, it will

also remain as shown above.



import

import

public class MainActivity extends Activity{

@Override


// Implement the event handler for the first button. public
void doSmall(View v) {

TextView txtView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.text_id);
// change text size

return;

// Implement the event handler for the second button.
public void doLarge(View v) {

TextView txtView = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.text_id);
// change text size

return;

@Override

menu); return true;

Following will be the content of res/layout/activity_main.xml file. Here we have to
addandroid:onClick=methodName for both the buttons, which will register given
method names as click event handlers.


<LinearLayout


<Button

android:text=@string/button_small
android:onClick=doSmall/>

<Button

android:text=@string/button_large
android:onClick=doLarge/>

<TextView

</LinearLayout>

Again lets try to run your EventDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD
while doing environment

setup. To run the app from Eclipse, open one of your projects activity files and click Run
icon from the toolbar. Eclipse installs the app on your AVD and starts it and if
window:

Now you try to click on two buttons one by one and you will see that font of the Hello
World text will change, which happens because registered click event handler method is
being called against each click event.
Exercise:

I will recommend to try writing different event handlers for different event types and
understand exact difference in different event types and their handling. Events related to
menu, spinner, pickers widgets are little different but they are also based on the same
concepts as explained above.
CHAPTER
16

Styles and Themes

f you already know about Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) in web design then to
understand Android Style also

works very similar way. There are number of attributes associated with each Android
widget which you can set to change your application look and feel. A style can specify
properties such as height, padding, font color, font size, background color, and much
more.

You can specify these attributes in Layout file as follows:


<LinearLayout

<TextView
android:textColor=#00FF00
android:typeface=monospace


</LinearLayout>

But this way we need to define style attributes for every attribute separately which is not
good for source code maintenance point of view. So we work with styles by defining
them in separate file as explained below.
Defining Styles

A style is defined in an XML resource that is separate from the XML that specifies the
layout. This XML file resides under res/values/ directory of your project and will have
<resources> as the root node which is mandatory for the style file. The name of the XML
file is arbitrary, but it must use the .xml extension.

You can define multiple styles per file using <style> tag but each style will have its name
that uniquely identifies the style. Android style attributes are set using <item> tag as
shown below:

> <resources>

<style name=CustomFontStyle>

<item name=android:layout_width>fill_parent</item>
<item
name=android:layout_height>wrap_content</item>
<item name=android:capitalize>characters</item>
<item name=android:typeface>monospace</item>

<item name=android:textSize>12pt</item>
<item
name=android:textColor>#00FF00</item>/>

</style>
</resources>

The value for the <item> can be a keyword string, a hex color, a reference to another
resource type, or other value depending on the style property.
Using Styles

Once your style is defined, you can use it in your XML Layout file using style attribute as
follows:


<LinearLayout


<TextView
style=@style/CustomFontStyle


</LinearLayout>

To understand the concept related to Android Style, you can check Style Demo Example
given below:

Following example demonstrates how you can use a Style for individual elements. Lets
start with creating a simple Android application as per the following steps:
Step Description
as StyleDemo under a

package com.example.styledemo as explained in the Hello World

Example chapter.
Modify src/MainActivity.java file to add click event listeners and

handlers for the two buttons defined.
Define your style in global style file res/values/style.xml to define

custom attributes for a button.

include a set of Android UI controls and
make use of the defined style.

filesrc/com.example.styledemo/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of the

package com.example.styledemo;

import


@Override










});






});

@Override


return true;
}
Following will be
the
of
res/values/style.xml
content file
which will have addition
styleCustomButtonStyle
defined:

<resources>

<!

Base application theme, dependent on API level. This theme is replaced
by AppBaseTheme from res/values-vXX/styles.xml on newer devices.

>

<style name=AppBaseTheme
parent=android:Theme.Light> <!

Theme customizations available in newer API levels can go in
res/values-vXX/styles.xml, while customizations related to
backward-compatibility can go here.

>
</style>

<! Application theme. >

<style name=AppTheme parent=AppBaseTheme>

<! All customizations that are NOT specific to a particular API-level can go
here. >

</style>

<! Custom Style defined for the buttons. >
<style name=CustomButtonStyle>

<item
name=android:layout_width>100dp</item>
<item name=android:layout_height>38dp</item>
<item
name=android:capitalize>characters</item>
<item
name=android:typeface>monospace</item>
<item name=android:shadowDx>1.2</item>

<item
name=android:shadowDy>1.2</item>
<item
name=android:shadowRadius>2</item>

<item
name=android:textColor>#494948</item>/>
<item name=android:gravity >center</item>
<item name=android:layout_margin
>3dp</item> <item name=android:textSize
>5pt</item>

<item name=android:shadowColor
>#000000</item> </style>

</resources>



<LinearLayout


<Button
style=@style/CustomButtonStyle


<Button android:id=@+id/button_l


<TextView android:id=@+id/text_id

</LinearLayout>


<resources>

<string name=app_name>StyleDemo</string>

<string name=button_small>Small Font</string>
<string name=button_large>Large Font</string>

</resources>





<uses-sdk

<activity



</intent-filter>

</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Lets try to run your StyleDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD while

Style Inheritance

Android supports style Inheritance in very much similar way as cascading style sheet in
web design. You can use this to inherit properties from an existing style and then define
only the properties that you want to change or add.

Its simple, to create a new style LargeFont that inherits the CustomFontStyle style
defined above, but make the font size big, you can author the new style like this:


<resources>

<style name=CustomFontStyle.LargeFont>

<item name=android:textSize>20ps</item>

</style>

</resources>

You can reference this new style as @style/CustomFontStyle.LargeFont in your XML
Layout file. You can continue inheriting like this as many times as youd like, by chaining
names with periods. For example, you can extend FontStyle.LargeFont to be Red, with:

<resources>

<style name=CustomFontStyle.LargeFont.Red>

<item name=android:textColor>#FF0000</item>/>

</style>

</resources>

This technique for inheritance by chaining together names only works for styles defined
by your own resources. You cant inherit Android built-in styles this way. To reference an
Android built-in style, such as TextAppearance, you must use the parent attribute as
shown below:

> <resources>

<style name=CustomFontStyle
parent=@android:style/TextAppearance> <item
name=android:layout_width>fill_parent</item>

<item
name=android:layout_height>wrap_content</item>
<item name=android:capitalize>characters</item>
<item name=android:typeface>monospace</item>

<item name=android:textSize>12pt</item>
<item
name=android:textColor>#00FF00</item>/>

</style>
</resources>
Android Themes

Hope you understood the concept of Style, so now lets try to understand what is a
Theme. A theme is nothing but an Android style applied to an entire Activity or
application, rather than an individual View.

Thus, when a style is applied as a theme, every View in the Activity or application will
apply each style property that it supports. For example, you can apply the same
CustomFontStyle style as a theme for an Activity and then all text inside that Activity
will have green monospace font.

To set a theme for all the activities of your application, open the AndroidManifest.xml
file and edit the<application> tag to include the android:theme attribute with the style
name. For example:

<application android:theme=@style/CustomFontStyle>

But if you want a theme applied to just one Activity in your application, then add the
android:theme attribute to the <activity> tag only. For example:

<activity android:theme=@style/CustomFontStyle>

There are number of default themes defined by Android which you can use directly or
inherit them using parent attribute as follows:

<style name=CustomTheme parent=android:Theme.Light>

</style>

To understand the concept related to Android Theme, you can check Theme Demo
Example given below:

Following example demonstrates how you can use a theme for an application. For demo
purpose we will modify our default AppTheme wehere default text, its size, family,
shadow etc will be changed. Lets start with creating a simple Android application as per
the following steps:
Step Description
as ThemeDemo under a
package com.example.themedemo as explained in the Hello World

Example chapter.
Modify src/MainActivity.java file to add click event listeners and

handlers for the two buttons defined.
Define your style in global style file res/values/style.xml to define

custom attributes for a button and
change default theme of the application to play with the text.

include a set of Android UI controls and
make use of the defined style.

filesrc/com.example.themedemo/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of the

package com.example.themedemo;

import


@Override







});







});

@Override


return true;
}
Following will be
the
of
res/values/style.xml
content file
which will have addition
styleCustomButtonStyle
defined:

<resources>

<!
Base application theme, dependent on API level. This theme is replaced

by AppBaseTheme from res/values-vXX/styles.xml on newer devices.

>

<style name=AppBaseTheme
parent=android:Theme.Light> <!

Theme customizations available in newer API levels can go in
res/values-vXX/styles.xml, while customizations related to
backward-compatibility can go here.

>
</style>

<! Application theme. >

<style name=AppTheme parent=AppBaseTheme>

<! All customizations that are NOT specific to a particular API-level can go
here. >

<item
name=android:capitalize>characters</item>
<item
name=android:typeface>monospace</item>
<item name=android:shadowDx>1.2</item>

<item
name=android:shadowDy>1.2</item>
<item
name=android:shadowRadius>2</item>

<item
name=android:textColor>#494948</item>/>
<item name=android:gravity >center</item>

<item name=android:layout_margin
>3dp</item> <item name=android:textSize
>5pt</item>

<item name=android:shadowColor
>#000000</item> </style>

<! Custom Style defined for the buttons. >
<style name=CustomButtonStyle>

<item
name=android:layout_width>100dp</item>
<item
name=android:layout_height>38dp</item>
</style>

</resources>



<LinearLayout


<Button


<Button


<TextView

</LinearLayout>


> <resources>

<string name=app_name>ThemeDemo</string>
</string>

<string name=button_small>Small
Font</string> <string
name=button_large>Large Font</string>

</resources>

Following is the default content of AndroidManifest.xml. Here we do not need to change
anything because we kept out theme name unchanged. But if you define fresh new theme
or inherit a default them with different name then you will have to replace AppTheme
name with the new them name.


<manifest

>

<uses-sdk

<application
<activity



<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Lets try to run your ThemeDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD while

Default Styles & Themes

The Android platform provides a large collection of styles and themes that you can use in
your applications. You can find a reference of all available styles in the R.style class. To
use the styles listed here, replace all underscores in the style name with a period. For
example,
you
can
apply
the
Theme_NoTitleBar
theme
with
@android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar. You can see the following source code for Android
styles and themes:

Android Styles (styles.xml)

Android Themes (themes.xml)
CHAPTER
17

Custom Components

ndroid offers a great list of pre-built widgets like Button, TextView,

EditText, ListView, CheckBox,

RadioButton, Gallery, Spinner, AutoCompleteTextView etc. which you can use directly in
your Android application development, but there may be a situation when you are not
satisfied with existing functionality of any of the available widgets. Android provides you
with means of creating your own custom components which you can customized to suit
your needs.

If you only need to make small adjustments to an existing widget or layout, you can
simply subclass the widget or layout and override its methods which will give you precise
control over the appearance and function of a screen element.

This tutorial explains you how to create custom Views and use them in your application
using simple and easy steps.
Creating a Simple Custom Component

The simplest way to create your custom component is to extend an existing widget class
or subclass with your own class if you want to extend the functionality of existing widget
like Button, TextView, EditText, ListView, CheckBox etc. otherwise you can do
everything yourself by starting with theandroid.view.View class.

At its simplest form you will have to write your constructors corresponding to all the
constructors of the base class. For example if you are going to extend TextView to create
a DateView then following three constructors will be created for DateView class:

public class DateView extends
TextView { public DateView(Context
context) {

super(context);

// Additional custom code

public DateView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs) {
super(context, attrs);


public DateView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle) {
super(context, attrs, defStyle);


Because you have created DateView as child of TextView so it will have access on all the
attributes, methods and events related to TextView and you will be able to use them
without any further implementation. You will implement additional custom functionality
inside your own code as explained in the given examples below.

If you have requirement for implementing custom drawing/sizing for your custom widgets
then you need to override onMeasure(int widthMeasureSpec, int heightMeasureSpec)
and onDraw(Canvas canvas) methods. If you are not going to resize or change the shape
of your built-in component then you do not need either of these methods in your custom
component.

The onMeasure() method coordinate with the layout manager to report the widgets width
and height, and you need to call setMeasuredDimension(int width, int height) from inside
this method to report the dimensions.

You can then execute your custom drawing inside the onDraw(Canvas canvas) method,
where android.graphis.Canvas is pretty similar to its counterpart in Swing, and has
methods such as drawRect(), drawLine(), drawString(), drawBitmap() etc. which you can
use to draw your component.

Once you are done with the implementation of a custom component by extending existing
widget, you will be able to instantiate these custom components in two ways in your
application development:
INSTANTIATE USING CODE INSIDE

ACTIVITY CLASS

It is very similar way of instantiating custom component the way you instantiate built-in
widget in your activity class. For example you can use following code to instantiate above
defined custom component:

@Override


DateView dateView = new
DateView(this);
setContentView(dateView);

Check this below given example to understand how to Instantiate a Basic Android Custom
Component using code inside an activity:
Instantiate a Basic Android Custom Component(using

code)

Following example shows you how to define a simple Android custom component and
then how to instantiate it inside activity code without using layout file.

Step Description

DateViewDemounder a
1 package com.example.dateviewdemo as explained in the Hello World

Examplechapter.

2 Create src/DateView.java file and add the code to define your custom component. It will extend
TextView and will have additional functionality to show current date.

3 Modify src/MainActivity.java file and add the code to create DateView instance and
usesetContentView() method to set it in the layout.
4 changes done in the aplication.

Following will be the content of new file
src/com.example.dateviewdemo/DateView.java, which will have additional
functionality to show current date:

package com.example.dateviewdemo;

import

import android.util.AttributeSet;
import


context) {

super(context);
setDate();
}

public DateView(Context context, AttributeSet
attrs) { super(context, attrs);
setDate();

public DateView(Context context, AttributeSet attrs, int defStyle)
{ super(context, attrs, defStyle);
setDate();

private void setDate() {

SimpleDateFormat(yyyy/MM/dd); String today =
dateFormat.format(Calendar.getInstance().getTime());
setText(today); // self = DateView is a subclass of TextView

filesrc/com.example.dateviewdemo/MainActivity.java. This file can include each
of the fundamental lifecycle methods.


import


@Override



// Create DateView instance and set it in layout. DateView
dateView = new DateView(this); setContentView(dateView);

@Override



true;



<TextView

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>

<string name=app_name>DateViewDemo</string>

</resources>






<application
<activity



<category
</activity>

</application>

</manifest>

Lets try to run your DateViewDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD

window:
INSTANTIATE USING LAYOUT XML

FILE

Traditionally you use Layout XML file to instantiate your built-in widgets, same concept
will apply on your custom widgets as well so you will be able to instantiate your custom
component using Layout XML file as explained below. Here
com.example.dateviewdemo is the package where you have put all the code related to
DateView class and DateView is Java class name where you have put complete logic of
your custom component.






<com.example.dateviewdemo.DateView
android:textColor=#fff
android:textSize=40sp
android:background=#000
/>

</RelativeLayout>

It is important to note here that we are using all TextView attributes along with custom
component without any change. Similar way you will be able to use all the events, and
methods along with DateView component.

Check this example to understand how to Instantiate a Basic Android Custom Component
using Layout XML file.
Instantiate a Basic Android Custom Component (using

Layout XML file)

Following example shows you how to define a simple Android custom component and
then how to instantiate it inside activity code without using layout file.

Step Description

DateViewDemounder a
1 package com.example.dateviewdemo as explained in the Hello World

Examplechapter.

2 Create src/DateView.java file and add the code to define your custom component. It will extend
TextView and will have additional functionality to show current date.

3 Modify res/layout/activity_main.xml file and add the code to create DateView instance along with few
default attributes.




import

import android.util.AttributeSet;

context) {

super(context);

setDate();


setDate();

setDate();


SimpleDateFormat(yyyy/MM/dd); String today =
dateFormat.format(Calendar.getInstance().getTime()); setText(today); //
self = DateView is a subclass of TextView

filesrc/com.example.dateviewdemo/MainActivity.java. This file can include each of the





@Override



@Override



true;





android:background=#000

/>

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>

<string name=app_name>DateViewDemo</string> <string
name=hello_world>Hello world!</string>

</resources>






<application

<activity


> <intent-filter>


<category

</activity>

</application>

</manifest>


window:
Custom Component with Custom Attributes

We have seen how we can extend functionality of built-in widgets but in both the
examples given above we saw that extended component can make use of all the default
attributes of its parent class. But consider a situation when you want to create your own
attribute from scratch. Below is a simple procedure to create and use new attributes for
Android Custom components. Consider we want to introduce three attributes and will use
them as shown below:





custom:delimiter=-

custom:fancyText=true

/>
STEP 1

The first step to enable us to use our custom attributes is to define them in a new xml file
underres/values/ and call it attrs.xml. Lets have a look on an example attrs.xml file:

> <resources>

<declare-styleable name=DateView>
<attr name=delimiter format=string/>
<attr name=fancyText
format=boolean/> </declare-styleable>

</resources>

Here the name=value is what we want to use in our Layout XML file as attribute, and the
format=type is the type of attribute.
STEP 2

Your second step will be to read these attributes from Layout XML file and set them for
the component. This logic will go in the constructors that get passed an AttributeSet, since
that is what contains the XML attributes. To read the values in the XML, you need to first
create a TypedArray from theAttributeSet, then use that to read and set the values as
shown in the below example code:

TypedArray a = context.obtainStyledAttributes(attrs, R.styleable.DateView);

final int N = a.getIndexCount();
for (int i = 0; i < N; ++i)

int attr = a.getIndex(i);
switch (attr)
{

case R.styleable.DateView_delimiter:
String delimiter = a.getString(attr); //
do something with delimiter
break;

case R.styleable.DateView_fancyText:

boolean fancyText = a.getBoolean(attr, false);

//do something with fancyText

break;

a.recycle();
STEP 3

Finally you can use your defined attributes in your Layout XML file as follows:

xmlns:custom=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.example.dateviewdemo


custom:delimiter=-
/>

</RelativeLayout>

The
important
part
isxmlns:custom=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.example.dateviewdemo. Note
thathttp://schemas.android.com/apk/res/ will remain as is, but last part will be set to your
package name and also that you can use anything after xmlns:, in this example I used
custom, but you could use any name you like.

Check this below given example to understand how to Create Custom Attributes for
Android Custom Componentwith simple steps.
Create Custom Attributes for Android Custom

Component

Following example shows you how to define a simple Android custom component with
custom attributes.
Step Description
DateViewDemounder a
package com.example.dateviewdemo as explained in the Hello World
Examplechapter.
Create an XML res/values/attrs.xml file to define new attributes alongwith

their data type.

Create src/DateView.java file and add the code to define your custom
component. It will extend TextView and 3 will have additional functionality to show
current date. You will provide attributes parsing logic in of the
constructors having AttributeSet as a parameter.

4 Modify res/layout/activity_main.xml file and add the code to create DateView instance along with
few default attributes and new attributes.


filesrc/com.example.dateviewdemo/MainActivity.java. This file can include each
of the fundamental lifecycle methods.


import


@Override


@Override



menu); return true;

Following will be the content of res/values/attrs.xml file:

<?xml version=1.0 encoding=utf8?> <resources>

<declare-styleable name=DateView>
<attr name=delimiter
format=string/> <attr
name=fancyText format=boolean/>
</declare-styleable>

</resources>



import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

import android.content.Context; import
android.content.res.TypedArray; import
android.graphics.Color;

import android.util.AttributeSet; import
android.util.Log;


public class DateView extends TextView {
public String delimiter;
public boolean fancyText;

public DateView(Context context) {
super(context);

setDate();


TypedArray a = context.obtainStyledAttributes(attrs,
R.styleable.DateView );

final int N = a.getIndexCount(); for (int
i = 0; i < N; ++i)
{

int attr = a.getIndex(i);

switch (attr)

case R.styleable.DateView_delimiter:
delimiter = a.getString(attr); setDate();
break;

case R.styleable.DateView_fancyText:
fancyText = a.getBoolean(attr, false);
fancyText();

break;

a.recycle();

setDate();

SimpleDateFormat dateFormat =

new SimpleDateFormat(yyyy + delimiter + MM + delimiter + dd); String
today = dateFormat.format(Calendar.getInstance().getTime()); setText(today); //
self = DateView = subclass of TextView

private void fancyText() { if(
this.fancyText){
setShadowLayer(9, 1, 1, Color.rgb(44, 44, 40));


xmlns:custom=http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/com.example.dateviewdemo


custom:delimiter=-
/>

</RelativeLayout>


<resources>
<string name=app_name>DateViewDemo</string>

</resources>





<uses-sdk

<activity



<category
</activity>
</application>

</manifest>


window:
8 NotificationCompat.Builder setDefaults (int defaults)

Set the default notification options that will be used.
9 NotificationCompat.Builder setLargeIcon (Bitmap icon)

Set the large icon that is shown in the ticker and notification.
10 NotificationCompat.Builder setNumber (int number)

Set the large number at the right-hand side of the notification.
11 NotificationCompat.Builder setOngoing (boolean ongoing)

Set whether this is an ongoing notification.
12 NotificationCompat.Builder setSmallIcon (int icon)

Set the small icon to use in the notification layouts.
13 NotificationCompat.Builder setStyle (NotificationCompat.Style style)

Add a rich notification style to be applied at build time.
14 NotificationCompat.Builder setTicker (CharSequence tickerText)

Set the text that is displayed in the status bar when the notification first arrives.
15 NotificationCompat.Builder setVibrate (long[] pattern)

Set the vibration pattern to use.
16 NotificationCompat.Builder setWhen (long when)

Set the time that the event occurred. Notifications in the panel are sorted by this
time.
Example

Following example shows the functionality of a Android notification using a
NotificationCompat.BuilderClass which has been introduced in Android 4.1.
Step Description
NotificationDemounder a
package com.example.notificationdemo. While creating this project, make

sure youTarget SDK and Compile


2 Modify src/MainActivity.java file and add the code to define three methods startNotification(),
cancelNotification() and updateNotification() to cover maximum functionality related to Android notifications.

3 Create a new Java file src/NotificationView.java, which will be used to display new layout as a
part of new activity which will be started when user will click any of the notifications

4 Copy image woman.png in res/drawable-* folders and this image will be used as Notification icons.
You can use images with different resolution in case you want to provide them for different devices.
Modify layout XML file res/layout/activity_main.xml to add three buttons

5 in linear layout.

6 Create a new layout XML file res/layout/notification.xml. This will be used as layout file for new
activity which will start when user will click any of the notifications.

7 Modify res/values/strings.xml to define required constant values

filesrc/com.example.notificationdemo/MainActivity.java. This file can include
each of the fundamental lifecycle methods.

package com.example.notificationdemo;

import

import
android.app.NotificationManager;
import android.app.PendingIntent;
import android.app.TaskStackBuilder;


import
android.support.v4.app.NotificationCompat;
import android.util.Log;

import

private NotificationManager
mNotificationManager; private int notificationID
= 100;

private int numMessages = 0;


Button startBtn = (Button) findViewById(R.id.start);
startBtn.setOnClickListener(new
View.OnClickListener() {

public void onClick(View
view) {
displayNotification();
}

});

Button cancelBtn = (Button) findViewById(R.id.cancel);
cancelBtn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

cancelNotification();
}

});

Button updateBtn = (Button) findViewById(R.id.update);
updateBtn.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {

updateNotification();
}

});

protected void displayNotification() {
Log.i(Start, notification);

/* Invoking the default notification service */
NotificationCompat.Builder mBuilder =
new NotificationCompat.Builder(this);

mBuilder.setContentTitle(New Message);
mBuilder.setContentText(Youve received new message.);
mBuilder.setTicker(New Message Alert!);

mBuilder.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.woman);

/* Increase notification number every time a new notification arrives */
mBuilder.setNumber(++numMessages);

/* Creates an explicit intent for an Activity in your app */ Intent
resultIntent = new Intent(this, NotificationView.class);

TaskStackBuilder stackBuilder = TaskStackBuilder.create(this);
stackBuilder.addParentStack(NotificationView.class);

/* Adds the Intent that starts the Activity to the top of the stack */
stackBuilder.addNextIntent(resultIntent);

PendingIntent resultPendingIntent =
stackBuilder.getPendingIntent(

0,
PendingIntent.FLAG_UPDATE_CURRENT

);
mBuilder.setContentIntent(resultPendingIntent);

mNotificationManager =

(NotificationManager) getSystemService(Context.NOTIFICATION_SERVICE);

/* notificationID allows you to update the notification later on. */
mNotificationManager.notify(notificationID, mBuilder.build());
}
protected void cancelNotification() {

Log.i(Cancel, notification);
mNotificationManager.cancel(notificationID);

protected void updateNotification() {
Log.i(Update, notification);


mBuilder.setContentTitle(Updated Message);
mBuilder.setContentText(Youve got updated
message.); mBuilder.setTicker(Updated Message
Alert!); mBuilder.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.woman);





PendingIntent resultPendingIntent
= stackBuilder.getPendingIntent(

0,

);
mBuilder.setContentIntent(resultPendingIntent);


/* Update the existing notification using same notification ID */
}

filesrc/com.example.notificationdemo/NotificationView.java.

package com.example.notificationdemo;


public class NotificationView extends
Activity{ @Override
public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState)

setContentView(R.layout.notification);


<LinearLayout


<Button android:id=@+id/start
android:text=@string/start_note/>

<Button android:id=@+id/cancel
android:text=@string/cancel_note />

<Button android:id=@+id/update
android:text=@string/update_note />

</LinearLayout>

Following will be the content of res/layout/notification.xml file:



android:layout_height=fill_parent >

<TextView
android:layout_height=400dp

android:text=Hi, Your Detailed notification view goes here. />
</LinearLayout>


<resources>

<string name=app_name>NotificationDemo</string> <string
name=hello_world>Hello world!</string> <string
name=start_note>Start Notification</string> <string
name=cancel_note>Cancel Notification</string> <string
name=update_note>Update Notification</string>

</resources>



package=com.example.notificationdemo




> <activity

android:name=com.example.notificationdemo.MainActivity
android:label=@string/app_name >

<intent-filter>


<category
</activity>

<activity android:name=.NotificationView
android:label=Details of notification
android:parentActivityName=.MainActivity>

<meta-data
android:name=android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY
android:value=.MainActivity/>

</activity>

</application>

</manifest>
Lets try to run your NotificationDemo application. I assume you had created your AVD

window:

Now click Start Notification button, you will see at the top a message New Message
Alert! will display momentarily and after that you will have following screen having a
small icon at the top left corner.

Now lets expand the view, long click on the small icon, after a second it will display date
information and this is the time when you should drag status bar down without releasing
mouse. You will see status bar will expand and you will get following screen:

Now lets try to click on the image icon, this will launch your new activity which you have
set using intent and you will have following screen:

Next, you can click on Detail of notification and it will take you back to the main
screen where you can try using Update Notification button which will update existing
notification and number will increase by 1 but if you will send notification with new
notification ID then it will keep adding in the stack and you see them separately listed on
the screen.
Big View Notification

The following code snippet demonstrates how to alter the notification created in the
previous snippet to use the Inbox big view style. Im going to update
displayNotification() modification method to show this functionality:

protected void displayNotification()
{ Log.i(Start, notification);


mBuilder.setContentTitle(New Message);
mBuilder.setContentText(Youve received new
message.); mBuilder.setTicker(New Message Alert!);
mBuilder.setSmallIcon(R.drawable.woman);


/* Add Big View Specific Configuration */
NotificationCompat.InboxStyle inboxStyle
=

new NotificationCompat.InboxStyle();

String[] events
= new String[6];
events[0] = new
String(This is first line.);
events[1] = new
String(This is second line);
events[2] = new
String(This is third line);
events[3] = new
String(This is 4th line);
events[4] = new
events[5] = new

// Sets a title for the Inbox style big view
inboxStyle.setBigContentTitle(Big Title Details:);

// Moves events into the big view

for (int i=0; i < events.length; i++) {

inboxStyle.addLine(events[i]);
}
mBuilder.setStyle(inboxStyle);




PendingIntent resultPendingIntent =
stackBuilder.getPendingIntent(

0,

); mBuilder.setContentIntent(resultPendingIntent);



/* notificationID allows you to update the notification later on. */
}

Now if you will try to run your application then you will find following result in expanded
form of the view:

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ANDROID

Copyright & Disclaimer Notice 2

Step 1 - Setup Java Development Kit (JDK) 9

Step 2 - Setup Android SDK 10

Step 3 - Setup Eclipse IDE 11

Step 4 - Setup Android Development Tools (ADT)

Step 5 - Create Android Virtual Device 14

Hello World Example 20

Create Android Application 20

Anatomy of Android Application 22

The Main Activity File 24

The Manifest File 24

The Strings File 25

The Layout File 26

Running the Application 27

Resources Organizing & 29

ACCESSING RESOURCES IN CODE 31

ACCESSING RESOURCES IN XML 32

Creating the Broadcast Receiver 45

Registering Broadcast Receiver 45

Broadcasting Custom Intents 46

Create Content Provider 53

Fragment Life Cycle 64

How to use Fragments? 65

Intents and Filters 72

Android Intent Standard Actions: 73

Android Layout Types 93

GridView Attributes 111

Sub-Activity Example 116

Layout Attributes 122

View Identification 124

Android UI Controls 125

TextView Attributes 126

EditText Attributes 131

AutoCompleteTextView Attributes 136

Button Attributes 140

ImageButton Attributes 145

CheckBox Attributes 149

ToggleButton Attributes 155

RadioButton Attributes 160

RadioGroup Attributes 165

Create UI Controls 170

Event Handling 172

Event Listeners & Event Handlers 172

Event Listeners Registration: 173

Event Handling Examples 173

EVENT LISTENERS REGISTRATION USING AN

REGISTRATION USING THE ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTS

REGISTRATION USING LAYOUT FILE

Styles and Themes 181

Defining Styles 182

Using Styles 182

Style Inheritance 186

Android Themes 187

Default Styles & Themes 191

Custom Components 192

Creating a Simple Custom Component 192

Custom Component with Custom Attributes 201

Big View Notification 214

ndroid is an open source and Linux-based Operating System for mobile

Android OS basic screen provides a beautiful and intuitive

GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth,

SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data